Massive Environmental Cleanup Defuses ‘Ticking Time Bomb’ on USS Yorktown

Governor Henry McMaster and the South Carolina Office of Resilience (SCOR) announced the successful completion of the USS Yorktown Environmental Remediation Project. The months-long effort, initiated by a 2022 Executive Order, successfully removed massive quantities of hazardous materials that posed a critical threat to the Charleston Harbor and the Lowcountry economy.

The historic USS Yorktown, an Essex-class aircraft carrier decommissioned in 1970 and relocated to the Charleston Harbor in 1975, had become an environmental risk. Due to continued corrosion of its hull, pollutants left over from its Navy service were at high risk of leaking into the sensitive marine ecosystem. Had the materials leaked, the catastrophic damage would have destroyed marshes, killed marine life, and threatened industries supporting thousands of local jobs.

The project successfully removed more than 1.6 million gallons of hazardous fluids and over nine tons of asbestos from the vessel.

When the US Navy decommissioned the Yorktown, it made the ship available to South Carolina “as is,” including the presence of residual hazardous materials. The remediation was executed in two major phases:

• Phase I (Completed December 2023): This phase involved an initial environmental assessment and immediate repairs. It resulted in the extraction of nearly 569,000 gallons of oily water, the removal of nine tons of sludge, and the disposal of 4.5 tons of asbestos waste, along with 35 external hull repairs.
• Phase II (February – October 2025): This phase focused on removing heavy fuel oil and hazardous contaminants from over 130 structural and non-structural tanks. Over 1.4 million gallons of contaminated fluids and 9.1 tons of asbestos-containing insulation were removed and sent to off-site processing facilities. Cleaned structural tanks were filled with freshwater to ensure the Yorktown remains stable.

The total cost of the project was an American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant award of $31.6 million, demonstrating South Carolina’s proactive approach to mitigating potential environmental disasters and preserving this significant historical landmark.