Photo by Jim Vickers of Patriots Point

The USS Laffey (left) and the United States Coast Guard Ingham are shown at sunset.The USS Laffey (left) and the United States Coast Guard Ingham are shown at sunset.

Two of their ships will be leaving the docks at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum this week.

On Wednesday, the USS Laffey will be transported to Detyen’s Shipyard in North Charleston for repairs on her hull. The USS Laffey sprung a leak in 2008 and emergency repairs are expected to take between three and four months.

A $9.2 million loan secured by the State Board and Budget Control Board will help Patriots Point make the emergency repairs.

Although the USS Laffey will return to her spot at Patriots Point, The Ingham will permanently leave on Thursday.

Dick Trammell, interim executive director, explained that Patriots Point and our board has been faced with some real issues.

“Just because the financial model set up for Patriots Point was developed, the revenue is not enough to pay for the capital maintenance of these ships,” he said.

Patriots Point receives no funding from state or federal government.

“Our revenue pays for operations,” Trammell said.

According to Trammell, The Ingham has leaks and $2.7 million repairs need to be made such as patching the hull.

The Ingham would have to be taken to dry dock to get repairs as soon as The Laffey returned.

However, the Mohawk Museum in Key West, Florida, contacted Patriots Point and asked if they would be interested in giving them a ship.

The Ingham, which has been at Patriots Point since 1989, will be transported to the museum in Florida on Thursday.

Trammell said, “the Ingham will be the ‘centerpiece’ ship of the Florida museum, much like the Yorktown is ours.”

The Ingham and the Mohawk will be on the adjacent pier, right where the cruise ships come in.

This is helping to defer the cost of $250,000 to repair the ship and transport it to Florida.

“If they would take the ship, Patriots Point would give them $250,000 for repairs,” said Trammell about the agreement the two museums had come to.

Trammell added that Patriots Point actually saved money. The operations department calculated the yearly maintenance of the Ingham at $80,000.

And that is if everything is going well.

“It is a win-win situation for both organizations. It enables our group to focus our energy on the remaining three ships. It is helpful not only for our financial resources but our human resources,” explained Trammell.

(Helen Ravenel can be reached at helen@moultrienews.com. Read the previous article here on The Laffey.)