James tours the decommissioned USS Yorktown aircraft carrier where his father spent two years serving. The group walks through the hangar bay, flight deck, engine room, and other sections, learning how the ship operated and staging a playful Apollo-8 launch sequence that references the Yorktown's role recovering astronauts.
James's dad lived on this ship for 2 years. They would go out to sea on duty for 1 year, come home for a short break, and go back in for another year. We are there. We are coming to our destination.
And hello.
Going on ships or out to the fort today?
Ships.
Oh, I'm not wearing my hat, not because of the headache. The headache, I'm pretty sure it's cured. My hat is soaking wet from last night.
It has to dry out. My dad was on this ship when he was in the Navy, and we came to visit it once a couple years back, and they let him go and show us where he slept and where his desk was and all those things.
It was pretty cool. This place is huge. We are inside of a boat right now. Uh-oh. We are inside of a ship right now. Okay, James, give us the 1-hour tour version of this place.
I have to make it quick. There's the hangar bay, the flight deck, the bridge, and engine room. That's probably the 4 main spots. And the Apollo.
And the Apollo mission. Here we go.
Apollo. Going in, going in. Keep going, keep going, keep going.
9. We have ignition sequence start. The engines are on. 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.
I would have made a horrible astronaut. I'm scared now. I'm not going anywhere.
This is the launch. You have S-IVB to rocket capability, over. Roger, thank you.
Are we in that rocket?
Houston, what does the old moon look like from 60 miles over? Okay, Houston, the moon is essentially gray. No color. Apollo 8 is in trajectory and guidance to go, over. Does it look like we're in that rocket? Go ahead, Apollo 8. Are you doing okay?
It's okay, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay.
We're going in the harbor!
Look, I was wondering why the Apollo thing was on this Yorktown ship, but the Yorktown ship is the one who recovered this.
Wow, this is so cool!
That was really cool to like get to experience that. Gideon also would not make a good astronaut because he was scared too.
Super steep. Look where we are, guys. We are in the engine room. Holy smokes. This is a huge engine.
I think this is the boiler that makes the water boil, that makes steam, that makes the turbines turn, that makes the propellers are.
And so if you want a nice quiet place while you're on the ship when you're going, you just come here, right? Look, we are walking on grates. What's this do, James?
That opens the valves to let the steam into the turbines to make them turn.
My pop was also in the Navy. Hey, Pop, I wish you were here. You could explain some of this stuff to us.
Mayday, mayday! James is acting up!
Come and get him!
Security!
Look who's doing good. Leg getting better?
This is where they fix people's shoes.
The machine shop. The cafeteria. That's a recipe for 10,000 chocolate chip cookies.
I can't even imagine.
Look at the ball of dough. 10,000 chocolate chip cookies.
Is this 1964? No, I think they're making bread here.
112 pounds of chocolate chips. 500 eggs. We're in the bakery. This would be the huge mixer. We have 18 hot ovens. They got those 10,000 cookies coming soon.
This is where the pilots get ready for their missions before they take off.
Air traffic control. The radio room.
I do that.
You would do that? Radar room. A lot cooler out here up on the flight deck. This is crazy. We are looking at the takeoff area. They don't start way back here and take off over there. They start right here. This is the remnants of the old catapult area, a machine that pretty much just shoots them off. They dip a little bit and then they get enough momentum and power to take off on their own.
My dad was in a helicopter similar to this one but a little newer, I think, and they were the type of helicopters that picked up the astronauts when they'd splash down and whatnot. That seemed line of helicopters. I'd like to say something to my dad. Dad, thanks for your service on this ship, and it's fun to be able to explore where you used to serve.
Thank you, Poppy. Thank you, Poppy.
Can you say thank you, Poppy?
Oh, goodness gracious.
James is letting us borrow his ergo. I guess Wren wants to walk around a bit.
He does. Gideon, are you ready to get in the ergo?
Yeah.
You miss this thing? Do you miss this, buddy? Yeah, yeah, yeah, just like old times, Gideon.
This place is just so amazing because there's so much history here and like so many events happened and people felt so many emotions. And I don't know, it's just like an emotional— it's an emotional place for me at least, because like being in those rooms where before the men got on their airplanes and flew off and just what they were feeling and then— I can't imagine living on this ship. Big props to the men and maybe women, I don't know, that— that were here.
Okay, so now you regretting giving up the air gun?
No, I'm glad you get to use it.
This is seriously the steering wheel, guys. The helm. We're in the captain's bridge. How do you feel there in the captain's chair? You think you could drive this big ship? This escalator was a 1953 addition. The pilots could get up and down with all their gear and this helped significantly. One last thing, we're gonna check out this underwater submarine. We are now in the bottom of this submarine here. Look, there's sleeping quarters. Are you serious? Wait, are you serious? Is that where they'd sleep, James?
16 members of the crew slept, lived, and stowed their clothes and other personal gear. Here above the torpedoes.
Torpedoes right there. The men sleeping right there. That's what one looks like. The men sleeping right there. They would alternate in this bed too. Every 2 hours. No, no.
Just, I think, 3 people per 24 hours. Every 8 hours.
Oh, okay.
Every 8 hours.
So they shared it with 2 other people. And all 3 of their stuff, personal belongings, in this.
I believe that's how it worked.
Hang tight, Mr. Brown.
Hello!
Come on in, Mom.
Whoever wants to be a captain or just the first—
Here's your new kitchen.
Y'all, this is the shower.
It's a little reminiscent of the bus.
So now this is a better bunking situation, James.
So the officers, probably.
Oh, this is a little bit— I should have been an officer.
And there's the officer's deck, or the master's dining table.
Yeah.
Y'all, this is tight. This is tight.
Especially with Mr. Brown Dog here.
That person scared me.
Oh wow, yeah.
Hey, it's not a—
I came up and I was walking past the window and I was like, oh my gosh!
This must be the dining room for the crew. Community bathroom. Toilet, couple sinks. Now I have a message for my dad, who also served and lived on a ship in the Navy for many years. Pop, thank you so much for your service. You left farm, you left family, and you left sweethearts. Thank you. I love you.
Thank you, Papa. Thank you, Papa.
Can you say thank you, Papa? He says in his heart. Dude, you're looking pretty. Say thank you, Papa.
Thank you, Papa.
Thank you, Papa.
Thank you, Papa. I gotcha.
I got you, you monkey. You little monkey fart.
If I had to start my Homestead all over again, it could only pick one animal… 
