How a retired Navy reservist helped reposition the USS Yorktown after a coastal storm caused the ship to shift

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCBD) – Hoses that were acquired for the USS Yorktown by a Navy veteran helped to resettle the aircraft carrier following a recent coastal storm.

Record tide and surge from a Nor’easter that swiped the South Carolina coast on Dec. 17 caused the USS Yorktown to slightly shift its berth, moving about six inches.

Officials with Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum said hoses that were installed by Frank Shorter, a veteran and volunteer, played a pivotal role in helping to pump water back into the ship and assisted in getting the vessel back to its normal position.

Shorter, who served in the US Navy Reserve from 1969 to 1975, has been coming to the USS Yorktown since it arrived in Charleston Harbor in 1975. But he said one thing stood out to him: empty hose racks.

He contacted some friends at local fire departments and collected expired hoses that could be placed on the ship. The idea was to make the ship look like it did when active.

Patriots Point said the USS Yorktown is buried more than 25 feet in the mud and does not rise and fall with the tides. It has only moved one other time since arriving in Mount Pleasant – and that was during Hurricane Hugo in September 1989. The ship lifted an estimated six feet during that storm before resettling.

After Sunday’s coastal storm, museum staff worked with engineering firms to perform a safety assessment. The hoses that were collected and installed by Shorter were used to pump water back into the ship for ballast and get the USS Yorktown back to its normal position.