Ex-USS Clamagore to be towed from Patriots Point, recycled in Norfolk, VA

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCBD) – A historic submarine will be towed from Mount Pleasant on Friday amid a plan to recycle the vessel.

The Ex-USS Clamagore will be towed from its berthing at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum to Norfolk, VA.

The discovery of a leak in a main ballast tank forced the museum to close the submarine for public viewing in December 2021, and the Patriots Point Development Authority (PPDA) Board later voted to recycle the vessel in March 2022.

“Through emergency procurement, a contract with Coleen Marine was signed and work began in August 2022,” Patriots Point said.

Since then, crews have worked to remove materials from the submarine to improve buoyancy. About 504 batteries were removed in the process; each battery weighed 900 lbs.

The Clamagore was commissioned in June 1945 and operated in the Caribbean as a member of the 132 unit Balao class of submarines from 1945-1947.

It was later modernized into a Guppy II configuration in 1947 and operated in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Mediterranean until 1962. It underwent a final conversion into a Guppy III in late 1962.

“The Clamagore is most known for its service off the coast of Key West, Florida where it earned the nickname “Gray Ghost of the Florida Coast,”” the museum said.

The Clamagore was decommissioned in 1975 and later opened as a museum at Patriots Point in November 1981.