SC to finalize environmental cleanup of USS Yorktown

South Carolina will begin next week removing hundreds of thousands of gallons of toxic oil, fuel and other hazardous material from a World War II aircraft carrier on display in the Charleston Harbor.

SC removing 1.6 million gallons of oil, contaminants from USS Yorktown

The effort marks the final phase of a nearly three-year clean-up of the USS Yorktown, which has sat docked for 50 years.

The former warship has become the crown jewel of the state-owned Patriot’s Point Naval and Maritime Museum visited by 300,000 tourists each year.

“Beginning the final phase of toxic waste removal from the USS Yorktown is critical to protecting the way of life in the Lowcountry,” Gov. Henry McMaster said in a statement.

“Without removal, this waste seriously threatens Charleston Harbor’s fragile ecosystem and the industries that define it – including commercial shipping and tourism. This undertaking ensures that our coastline remains protected,” he continued.

Built in 1943, the Essex-class aircraft carrier replaced the original Yorktown sunk by a Japanese submarine in the Battle of Midway. Its crew fought tours in both World War II and the Vietnam War.

But when the U.S. Navy decommissioned the “Fighting Lady” in the 1970s, it did not remove more than 1 million gallons of fuel and other hazardous liquids on board before gifting it to the Patriots Point Development Authority.

“I believe it was an as-is gift,” McMaster told reporters Tuesday about its arrival in Charleston Harbor in 1975 from a former military shipyard in New Jersey. “The ashtrays were still full of cigarettes.”

The authority pushed for the restoration for more than a decade as corrosion of the Yorktown’s outer hull has made the aging battleship a danger to nearby marshes, estuaries, barrier islands, tidal creeks, and beaches.

Over the next 10 months, contractors will remove the final 568,800 gallons of oily water, 8.88 tons of sludge and mud, and 4.5 tons of asbestos waste, and make 35 repairs to the external hull.

Both phases of cleanup were funded by nearly $30 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds provided to the state and awarded by the S.C. Office of Resilience.

“It’ll be money well-spent because we want our state to be the greatest place around for people to come visit,” McMaster told reporters.

The state representative for the district that includes Patriots Point agreed.

“The Yorktown is a valuable historical asset for our area and state, symbolizing America’s naval history in both war and peace. It is our responsibility to preserve it for future generations while protecting our environment,” Rep. Tom Hartnett, R-Mount Pleasant, said in a statement.

SC Daily Gazette reporter Skylar Laird contributed to this report.