Ghosts of the USS Yorktown

by Bruce Orr

  Yorktown served as a recovery vessel for the Apollo 8 astronauts. Image Courtesy of KOP.

  On June 27, 1970, she was decommissioned in Philadelphia and was berthed with the Philadelphia Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet. She remained there almost three years before her name was finally struck from the navy on June 1, 1973.

  The following year, the navy approved the donation of the USS Yorktown (CV-10) to the Patriots Point Development Authority in Charleston, South Carolina. In June 1975, she was towed to Charleston and formally dedicated as a memorial on the 200th anniversary of the United States Navy on October 13, 1975.

  USS Yorktown (CV-10) was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1986.

  USS YORKTOWN (CG-48)

  Rounding out the list, the last ship to bear the name Yorktown was a Ticonderoga-class cruiser commissioned in 1984. This Yorktown’s first deployment was from August 1985 to April 1986 and, among other things, involved the Achille Lauro hijacker intercept, two Black Sea excursions and a trio of operations off the Libyan coast. As of late 2001, and since commissioning, Yorktown (CG-48) had completed five Mediterranean deployments. The cruiser was last home ported in Pascagoula, Mississippi. USS Yorktown (CG- 48) was decommissioned on December 3, 2004, and as of 2008, this incarnation of the Yorktown was scheduled to be dismantled.

  II.

  THE HAUNTINGS

  AS IN LIFE SO ALSO IN DEATH: A DEDICATION TO DUTY

  For every exhibit there is a story; for some of them the past refuses to die.

  —John Schuster from Haunting Museums

  AN APPARITION IN KHAKI

  Justin* (not his actual name) has been a scuba diver for over thirty years and has logged some three thousand dives in both a professional and recreational capacity. He holds several instructor certifications in the field and had served as both a diver and a supervisor of the Underwater Recovery Team (URT) prior to his retirement from law enforcement.

  He is currently a diving instructor and certifies individuals in all aspects of diving, be it recreational, professional or technical. Justin will be the first to tell you that even with all the technical training and experience, things can go wrong. Every time a diver goes below the surface, that person is entering a hostile environment. Simply put, human beings are not designed to breathe underwater and therefore must rely upon scuba (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) to sustain life until they return to the surface again.

  All dive equipment must be maintained, properly cared for and serviced regularly. Even with that, a diver can experience issues with equipment. Even properly maintained equipment, although unlikely, can fail on rare occasions. There are also environmental factors that a diver has to contend with during each dive, which can vary from curious and inquisitive sea life to poor visibility and overhead environments. Divers must train with their equipment and do so in various conditions. A good diver will also know what his partner is using and how to assist in the appropriate use of that equipment in an emergency situation. The bottom line is that adequate training, being aware of your dive environment and conditions and knowing your equipment and your partner’s minimizes the danger factor in diving.

  Diving in the Charleston area is a challenging experience. The foremost issue is visibility. Many divers abandon this state and travel to the crystal clear springs of Florida, where visibility is unlimited and the water temperature is seventy-two degrees year-round. There are others who accept the challenges this state has to offer, and they travel from other areas to this state to dive the murky waters of the Cooper River, where visibility is—at best—three feet. Generally, it can be less than that. One may ask why a person would want to travel to dive in an environment with the consistency and visibility of an oatmeal bath. The answer is quite simple.

  The author and others participating in a simulated diver rescue. When inexperienced divers exceed their level of training, a rescue may quickly turn into a recovery operation. Courtesy of Lost in Legend.

  The author holding a Megalodon tooth recovered from local waters. Courtesy of Swamp Fox Diving.

  Megalodon teeth.

  The megalodon was an enormous shark that roamed the Lowcountry’s waters from 1.5 to 28 million years ago. It could grow up to sixty feet long and fed on prehistoric whales and just about anything else it wanted to. It was the greatest predator ever known and had no enemies. Its teeth were approximately seven inches long, and with rows of thousands of these teeth and a bite pressure of between 10.8 and 18.2 tons, it could crush the skull of a prehistoric whale with minimal effort. The average Greyhound bus is fifteen feet shorter than the length of a megalodon and the creature had a bite pressure of ten times more than that of the great white shark, its closest living cousin.

  Locating a fossil of the Earth’s greatest predator can be rewarding in a number of ways. Just the simple fact of holding a 28-million-year-old fossil is reward enough to many. To others, it is the fact that these fossils are greatly sought after and can fetch a price of $300 to upward of $1,000, depending on its size and condition. In an effort to control the recovery of these and other relics, the State of South Carolina has established laws pertaining to the collection of artifacts and fossils located beneath the state’s waters. One must apply for and obtain a collector’s license through this state’s Sport Diver Archaeology Management Program (SDAMP) and categorize, log and report all findings quarterly. An artifact report must be sent to the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology (SCIAA) on any relics or artifacts located, and a fossil report must be submitted to the South Carolina State Museum on any fossils located. Even with these requirements, many divers enter into the state and risk the dangers of dark water diving (minimal visibility) and black water diving (no visibility) to locate these teeth.

  Megalodon teeth, depending on size and condition, can be sold for upward of $1,000. Courtesy of author.

  The author with an artifact recovered in South Carolina waters. A license must be obtained and all underwater archaeological discoveries must be logged with the Sport Diver Archaeological Management Program. Courtesy of Lost in Legend.

  That’s what lured three young and relatively inexperienced divers into the waters around the USS Yorktown in 1990.

  The three divers entered into the waters of the Charleston Harbor in the area of Patriots Point. The visibility was extremely limited and murky, and tides and obstacles made navigation difficult and strenuous. In the end, only two divers surfaced.

  The two divers attempted to search for their colleague as trained, but the efforts were unsuccessful. They were able to contact emergency services, and as time passed and the diver was not located, the hopes of a rescue faded and the focus was turned toward a recovery of the diver’s body.

  The Charleston County Police Department’s Underwater Recovery Team had been activated to assist in the search after the Charleston County Rescue Squad had been unable to locate the diver. Justin entered the murky water with others searching in the area the diver had last been seen. The divers began to set up search patterns and systematically began to look for the missing diver. Due to the murky water, the search was pretty much limited to feel since sight was useless.

  As Justin began to search the waters adjacent to the USS Yorktown, he wondered if the diver had managed to reach the aircraft carrier and had become trapped near the propellers. This would have created an overhead environment. An overhead environment is a condition when a solid object such as thick ice, a cavern roof, or the bottom of the ship in this situation comes between a diver and the surface. An inexperienced diver in near zero visibility may have panicked, become disoriented and used up his air supply seeking an escape.

  Justin approached the carrier, continuing to search by touch. As he swam along, he was overcome with an overwhelming sense of dread. It was not his usual apprehension; this was more serious. As he was about to ascend to a more comfortable depth, he realized that something had grabbed his fin and was holding it tight. Experience and training set in and
Justin slowly felt down his leg and attempted to reach what had apparently snared him. He examined the fin as best he could with his light. He soon realized he had become entangled in fishing line, and a treble hook had penetrated his fin. Justin decided to adjust his buoyancy compensator (BC) and attempted to descend in order to create slack in the line drawn tight around his leg. That is when he realized that his leg was not the only entanglement issue he was faced with.

  His tank was ensnared also.

  Justin quickly realized that he was not moving anywhere.

  In moments like this, the urge to panic becomes overwhelming. You are trapped underwater on a limited air supply with the knowledge that your survival depends on you reaching the surface. You now realize you are entangled, your ability to reach the surface is impaired and your survival is in jeopardy. Adrenaline kicks in, your heart races and, as it does so, you begin to breathe faster. Your body naturally reacts to the threat in the manner that it was designed to, but unfortunately, that natural physiological reaction to stress begins to burn your air supply even faster. If you struggle, you burn air even faster.

  Justin fought back the urge to panic. He watched the bubbles of his breathing rise inches in front of his mask. He focused on the bubbles to calm his breathing. The fact that they were rising told him that he was upright and the surface was exactly where it needed to be, above him. He knew from experience that often times divers can become disoriented in a crisis situation and not realize where the surface is.

  In 1990, the Charleston County Police Department served as law enforcement for the unincorporated areas of Charleston County. The Charleston County Sheriff’s Office was a much smaller agency and dealt with the security of the courts, the detention center and the service of legal papers. Although the police department dive team had been around for a number of years, many of the officers were using their own gear or borrowed gear. A communication system was nonexistent. Due to the poor visibility, Justin was separated from his partner and had no way to contact anyone. He was alone, and only he was going to be able to save himself.

  As Justin began to work with the lines around his ankle, he considered his options. If he dropped his weights, he would be unable to descend to create slack in the cable around his leg. If he removed his BC to untangle his tank, he may lose control of it and be dragged to the bottom by the lines around his ankle. If he inflated his BC and dropped his weights he could very well shoot upward and be snatched back into even more lines. He chose to remain as calm as he could, conserve air and first work the lines around his ankle and begin to cut himself free.

  Justin wondered if this is what the missing diver encountered. He wondered what the diver’s last thoughts were as he remained held fast in a spider web of monofilament lines and his air ran out. He wondered what option the diver took, and he wondered what must have gone through the young diver’s mind in those final seconds. He then began to wonder why he was wasting time wondering. Justin looked down and chose to descend as much as he could. Logic dictated that the lines’ point of origin was downward. He knew which direction downward was because he could see which way his bubbles traveled.

  Justin chose to descend in hopes of creating slack.

  In dark water diving, the water has two colors of visibility. Those colors are yellow or murky brown. In black water diving, there is no visibility. Justin was in water that was somewhere in between. As he kicked, his fins caused the pluff mud and silt on the bottom to rise up and mix with the already murky water, creating even worse visibility. As Justin glanced around him, he looked upward and was amazed to see another color through the murky mess.

  Khaki.

  Justin stared in total amazement at the color. It was so out of place yet so clear in such murky water. As he stared and focused upon it, he realized that it was a man in a khaki uniform, a navy uniform, above the surface, and he was reaching down toward Justin over the side of a boat. Justin could not believe what he was looking at, and the fact that he was apparently closer to the surface than he had thought. He also realized that the coil around his ankle had slackened its grip. Justin kicked hard to break free from the cable and simultaneously inflated his BC and rose to the top. He could see his bubbles breaking at the surface as he continued to rise upward toward the sailor. Just as he was about to break the surface, he was held fast again. Just as he had suspected, his rapid ascent had pulled him up into even more lines that began to entwine his legs. Justin’s arms had broken the surface, and he continued to fight his way to the top. Immediately, he was grabbed by not one person, but several. As he kicked, he felt the lines release from his legs as other divers pulled him from his BC and onto the boat. He was completely covered in mud.

  As Justin looked around, he realized that there was no sailor on board. There was no khaki uniform. There were no other boats in sight. In fact he could not see at all. It was not until he removed his mask that he realized that it was completely covered in mud. An eerie feeling immediately overcame the exhausted diver. What had he actually seen and how was he able to see it?

  The others removed Justin’s buoyancy compensator and tank. To everyone’s amazement, the fishing lines had wrapped and tightened themselves in a figure eight around his tank. As they worked on pulling at the lines, the rescue crew realized these fishing lines were entangled in ropes with treble hooks embedded into them. These ropes were attached to additional ropes, mooring lines and even more assorted monofilament line and hooks. All this was, in turn, hooked into assorted railings and other metal debris. Justin had inadvertently become entangled in an underwater spider web of assorted debris washed off the ships at Patriots Point and most likely the USCGC Comanche a year earlier during Hurricane Hugo.

  Due to the danger of the area and Justin’s deadly entanglement, the recovery effort was called off. Approximately a week later, the missing diver floated to the surface. His BC was inflated and his air supply diminished, leading many to speculate that he had indeed become entangled and unable to free himself until the tides in the harbor did it for him.

  The following year, in 1991, the citizens of Charleston County voted to merge the Charleston County Police Department with the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office, under the direction of Sheriff J. Al Cannon Jr. The Underwater Recovery Team, among all other divisions, benefited from the merger, and better equipment and an underwater communication system were purchased in an effort to prevent such issues as Justin faced that day.

  According to Justin, he is not quite ready to admit that the figure he saw was a ghost or phantom. He does admit, however, had it not been for his training, his experience and that inexplicable apparition in khaki, he may have never escaped certain death in the waters at Patriots Point.

  NOT ENOUGH COOKIES?

  The recipe for whipping up a batch of ten thousand chocolate chip cookies requires a massive mixer, at least one extremely gigantic bowl and the following ingredients:

  Ingredients:

  165 pounds of flour

  500 eggs

  100 pounds of granulated sugar

  87 pounds of shortening

  75 pounds of brown sugar

  12 pounds of butter

  3 pounds of salt

  3 cups of vanilla extract

  1 quart of water

  1.5 pounds of baking soda

  You may ask yourself, “Why would anyone need a recipe for ten thousand chocolate chip cookies?” Well, if you are attempting to bake a batch of cookies for the crew of the USS Yorktown, then the answer to that question is obvious. Satisfying every sweet tooth on a ship that can house 3,500 sailors requires breaking quite a few hundred eggs.

  The above recipe is posted onboard the USS Yorktown, just outside the bakery area, but obviously there were not enough cookies to go around to satisfy all the diners when Lori VonDohlen was cleaning up after a Boy Scout event in the fall of 2011.

  Yorktown crewmembers at meal time. Courtesy of Patriots Point.

  Ever since the USS Yorktown first docked at Pa
triots Point, it has served as a location of both learning and adventure for the Boy Scouts of America, as well as Girl Scouts and church and educational groups. Many youths have spent the night on “the Fighting Lady,” and just as many Boy Scouts have utilized that time to earn merit badges in fields pertaining to aviation, astronomy, journalism and oceanography. Others may be fortunate enough (or unfortunate enough, depending on your perspective) to experience an encounter such as Troop 149 did on a cold February night in 1987, but that’s another story for the next chapter.

  On a cold and rainy morning in either late September or early October 2011, the Boy Scouts had just finished dining in the room adjacent to the CPO Galley or what is referred to as the big room. The sounds of laughter and excitement had subsided, and now that the scouts had left, Lori busied herself cleaning up behind the boys. She was completely alone in the room at 8:00 a.m.

  As usual, Lori swept up the place and then wiped down the tables. It was an activity she had done numerous times before by herself, and usually she enjoyed the quietness, but this particular day was different. There was something eerie and unusual about the quiet.

  Lori continued wiping down the tops of the tables and then began the task of pushing all the chairs under the tables. Once this was completed, she stepped into the adjoining CPO Galley and began straightening up in that room. She was gone no more than ten minutes when she quickly stepped back into the adjoining dining room to discover that the chairs had been pulled out from underneath the tables. The chairs were in complete disarray and left at various angles in the aisles. This had all been done without a single sound while she was alone in the very next room.