ATTENTION ALL HANDS:
On Wednesday morning, January 12, 2012. a crews towed the
USS Laffey from North Charleston, under the Ravenel Bridge and to its
new berth at the Naval and Maritime Museum.
"We've been waiting for this day for quite a number of years now. I'm
looking forward to having the Laffey back," says Bob Wampler who was a
radioman aboard the USS Laffey from 1962 to 1965."It's just wonderful to
have...e
her back after all these years." "The ship was a very historic vessel,
sustained severe damage at the Battle of Okinawa in April of 1945,"
Wampler said. "It's a piece of history and it's the only one of the
Sumner Class Destroyers that's still alive and floating. The rest are
all gone, either scrapped, sold, or used for target practice."
The history behind the Laffey has many excited for her return.
"They were built quick and built cheap for World War II," said Mac
Burdette, executive director at Patriots Point. "This was in service all
the way through Vietnam, and she not only served in the Pacific in World
War II, but she actually participated in the Normandy invasion, she took
out two German bunkers sailing close to the coast of Normandy, so she's
really unusual in that regard. She's cool."
The USS Laffey is known as "The ship that would not die" because she
didn't sink despite Japanese bombs and kamikaze attacks during the war.
More than two years and about $9 million dollars later, "The ship that
would not die" has finally come back home to Patriots Point, Mt.
Pleasant, South Carolina!
