Towering above all the other boats, it seems impossible to not be immediately drawn into her gravitational pull. I urge you, however, to save this ship for last. After seeing the other boats, you will truly get an appreciation for the sheer size of the Yorktown.

The ship is laid out with six self-guided tour routes: Living and working spaces, Engine Room, Flight deck and bridge, Naval history exhibits, Wardtoom, the ship's brig, and officer in-port quarters. I did not go on the tour that takes you through the engine room (big motors totally freak me out), but I can only imagine that it is massive. Apart from those tours, there is also the huge hangar bay that has many examples of historic aircraft.

You enter the ship through the hangar bay, which is the main interior deck of the ship. At the entrance, there is an information desk in case you get lost, a snack bar with some tables if your feet are killing you (there is a plane named the Furtle Turtle hanging above it!), and the starts to all of the tours. You can take them in order if you want, but it doesn't seem to really matter. In fact, my only complaint about the tours is that they aren't laid out very well. I know that we somehow veered into another tour route at least twice, but I still think we saw almost everything.

There were a lot of things that were interesting, but I really enjoyed seeing the brig (jail). Watch out in this area because they have sneakily put in mannequins to freak you out. I also particularly enjoyed the flight deck on the top of the ship. It was so windy up there. I can't even imagine trying to take off in a plane on the open sea. It must be the scariest thing in the world. This tour (no. 3) also has an interior escalator on it! I was pretty shocked to turn the corner and see it.

The most memorable moment was when my roommate and I were looking at the officer’s quarters. She looked over at me and said, "Wow! These rooms are really nice!" I realized that our standards had dropped considerably since stepping on that first ship.

In 1957, Bob had been aboard the Yorktown for a few hours when he was in Gibraltar. From his experience on a carrier he knew what and where everything was and why it was there. A loud speaker announced lunch was being served in the CPO's mess hall. Aboard ship, sailors refer to everything by using initial and navy jargon. We did have lunch in the Chief Petty Officer's Dining Hall.

In the hangar bay, immediately ahead of us, was a wall with huge copper plaques and the names of all the Metal Of Honor recipients. Nearby was a flight simulator. I knew better than to try it but some of the 250 boy scouts camping aboard the ship were having a great time.

If you have watched WW II movies and you want to see what bombers, dive bombers, fighters, torpedo bombers or any other combat aircraft looks like you can see it all aboard the Yorktown. You can even sit in one. Full size replicas of bombs, torpedoes and rockets are usually under the planes appearing to be ready to be loaded or are already in place with the doors open. It fills you with an awesome respect for the destruction of war and the brave men that must be ready and able to cause it.

Bob said the flight deck was three decks up so we got our exercise for the day by climbing the metal ladders leading to it. He has always described a plane being catapulted off an aircraft carrier and enjoyed explaining how that happened by showing me the track that was used. The carrier is steered into the wind and the plane is jettisoned off the bow. The planes land on the stern with the ship in the wind, also. The plane has a hook that attaches to a wire that runs across the deck and causes it to stop quick. He had a few gruesome stories about what happens if things go wrong. More planes were on the flight deck. Then we climbed into the superstructure and saw where the captain sits and views the horizon.

According the material provided at the museum, she was "commissioned on June 28, 1945, as the war in the Pacific was drawing to a close. Based at Charleston for much of her career, she cruised Atlantic and Mediterranean waters for nearly thirty years, including critical patrols at the height of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. Twice modified from her original World War II configuration, Clamagore continued in service as one of the U. S. Navy's last diesel-powered submarines until decommissioned in 1975."

The tour entrance begins on the forwards deck and leads down into the forward torpedo room. The left tube is empty providing a excellent view of the torpedo tube. The right tube has a torpedo partially inserted into the tube. My wife was astonished by the fact that there were crew bunks in this room directly above the area where they stored the torpedoes.

The tour continues towards the rear of the vessel and passes thru the officer berthing areas, the officers dining mess, the communications room, the crew mess, the engine room, and the rear torpedo room. Midway down the vessel there are two metal grate that allow you a glimpse of the crew berthing area below the main deck, and a look up into the conning tower were you can get a decent view of the periscope, if you look closely.

The tour entrance leads into the hangar bay where a snack bar and the primary visitor information center is located. There are eight separate self-guided tour originating from the hangar bay. On all tours be prepared to go up and down several flights of very steep shipboard staircases. There are approximately 25 aircraft available for viewing in the hangar bay and on the flight deck. Tours include the Flight deck, engine rooms, officer and enlisted berthing areas, medical facilities, galleys, machine shops, ship's laundry, catapult rooms, and the bridge. Photography is permitted in the museum.