Cutter Ingham getting face-lift

MOUNT PLEASANT — Patriots Point has the rust scrapers and paint brushes out again, this time for the Coast Guard cutter Ingham, as the Naval & Maritime Museum continues its battle to preserve its historic fleet of ships that is one of the state's biggest tourist attractions.

The Ingham, the oldest vessel at Patriots Point, is receiving a $110,000 rust treatment and paint job, said Jim McElroy, Patriots Point communications director. The work is scheduled for completion in mid-September. Monday was the anniversary of the founding of the Coast Guard, he said.

"The ship's looking so much better. Clearly, aesthetics is part of it," McElroy said.

The Naval & Maritime Museum cuts costs on its vessel upkeep by using staff as much as possible to do the work. That strategy is being followed in the Ingham overhaul.

A face-lift for the aircraft carrier Yorktown was completed for the opening of the Congressional Medal of Honor Museum last year. The submarine Clamagore recently received a rust treatment and paint job

"It's a very hostile environment, just the saltwater," McElroy said.

Patriots Point has reported a 7 percent increase in ticket sales this year, which officials attribute to the nationally publicized $1.5 million renovation of the Medal of Honor Museum. The result is more funds for the ongoing task of maintaining the aging ships.

Volunteers play a key role at Patriots Point.

This weekend, active duty Navy, reservists and veterans will offer their services as "living historians" for the Laffey, the only surviving American destroyer from World War II to have served in both the Atlantic and Pacific campaigns.

The volunteers will be at the ship Friday and Saturday to greet visitors and share their knowledge of its past, McElroy said. The historians have a "passion for strict interpretation" and are "very exacting and specific as to uniform and procedure," he said.

The Laffey is known as "The Ship That Would Not Die." The destroyer took punishing blows from four bombs and was hit by five Japanese Kamikaze aircraft. The crew not only managed to keep the crippled ship afloat but also shot down nine attacking planes. Commissioned in 1944, the ship is named for the first Laffey, which was sunk by a Japanese torpedo in 1942 while taking on two enemy battleships, according to the Patriots Point Web site.

Reach Prentiss Findlay at 937-5711 or pfindlay@postandcourier.com.

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