Ingham moving to new home in Florida

When the destroyer Laffey limps away from Patriots Point for emergency repairs in the coming days, the Coast Guard cutter Ingham will follow closely behind — but that ship won't return.

Patriots Point officials signed a deal with a Florida museum Friday, turning over custody of the cutter. The Miami-Dade Historical Maritime Museum plans to house the Ingham in Key West alongside the cutter Mohawk.

Museum chairman Bill Verge, who served in the Coast Guard during the Vietnam War, said the two ships cruised together in the 1940s in Greenland.

"I think Mohawk's going to be glad to see her," Verge said. "She'll say, 'Hey, Ingham, where have you been all these years?' "

Patriots Point agreed to pay $250,000 to help move the ship out of Charleston, a commitment interim executive director Dick Trammell described as an ultimate cost-savings. That's because the Ingham needs work: $2 million to $3 million worth, according to Verge.

Like the Laffey, the Ingham sprang holes in its hull in recent months. But the Laffey's damage overshadowed Patriots Point's other ships, as its leaks numbered more than 100 and experts warned it could sink into Charleston Harbor if not moved soon.

Patriots Point accepted a $9.2 million loan from the state, which it must repay in a year and a half. Officials at the attraction hope that $20 million in federal funding requested by U.S. Rep. Henry Brown, R-S.C., will come through next year, but taking on another ship's repairs proved untenable.

"You have to view it with mixed emotions because it is a historic ship and it is a beautiful vessel," Trammell said. "But we have to look at it with a realistic perspective of finances."

Patriots Point officials decided months ago to focus their efforts on the museum's top draw, the aircraft carrier Yorktown, which houses the Medal of Honor Museum.

The submarine Clamagore remains in limbo, but Patriots Point officials recently began discussions with a company that could help move the ship to a land exhibit, according to Trammell.

He said the Ingham costs Patriots Point, a state agency that sustains itself financially, $80,000 each year in maintenance. Plus, it does not fit with the rest of the fleet: All three other warships are decommissioned Navy vessels.

"The Ingham will be to the Key West museum what the Yorktown is to Patriots Point," Trammell said. "It will be the crown jewel because it is the most decorated and historic Coast Guard vessel of that era."

The Ingham combatted opium smuggling in the 1930s and German U-boats in World War II. It carried out dozens of naval gunfire support missions in the Vietnam War and, in the waters near its future home in Key West, it rescued at least 20 Cuban citizens during the Mariel Boatlift in 1980.

During 52 years in service, the Ingham became the only cutter to receive two Presidential Unit Citations.

Verge, her new keeper, said he watched the Ingham for years and contacted Patriots Point after learning about its struggle to save the Laffey. Another ship will tow the Ingham out of Patriots Point and onto a repair spot Aug. 20, the day after the Laffey moves to Detyens Shipyards.

The Ingham will remain in repair, likely in Jacksonville, Fla., until November, when the threat of hurricanes diminishes. After traveling to Key West, the ship will need deck work, cleaning, painting and sandblasting, Verge said.

Then the ship will become the USS Ingham Coast Guard Cutter Memorial Museum, a nonprofit attraction.

The Miami-Dade Historical Maritime Museum rescued its other ship five years ago, according to Verge. Then in New York, the Mohawk was scheduled to be scrapped two weeks before the museum swooped in.

"We beat it up there and saved her from becoming razor blades," Verge said with a chuckle. "You have to be half-crazy to be in this business."

Reach Allyson Bird at abird@postandcourier.com or 937-5594.