The Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum located in South Carolina’s Charleston harbour has decided to have its exhibit submarine USS Clamagore (SS-343) dismantled and recycled after extensive corrosion, particularly of the vessel’s main ballast tank, was uncovered.
Repairs and restoration would cost nearly $9 million which the musuem does not have.
The submarine, the only example of a Guppy-type III to be preserved, was commissioned in 1945 and decommissioned in 1975.
It opened as an exhibit at the museum, alongside the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown and destroyer USS Laffey, in the early 1980s.
Its full dismantlement, during which certain items will be removed and retained for display, is expected to cost $2 million.
Report by Jim Shaw
