National Historic Landmark · destroyer · Mount Pleasant, South Carolina

USS Laffey

Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Added to the National Register in 1983, and a National Historic Landmark.

Open to visit National Historic Landmark Listed 1983

Photos via Wikimedia Commons · 6 in the Commons category

1fire
active

C-74 Fm Rx (prescribed burn) · 29 miles away

Interagency incident data as of 2026-10-17

Map ↓

What it is

USS Laffey (DD-724) is an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer constructed during World War II, laid down and launched in 1943, and commissioned in February 1944. She was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Seaman Bartlett Laffey, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his stand against Confederate forces during the Civil War.

Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The record

Property type	Structure
Address	W of Mt. Pleasant on E side of Charleston Harbor, Mount Pleasant vicinity, SC
County	Charleston County
Listed	Apr 12, 1983
Listed for	Military, Maritime history
Level of significance	National
Reference number	83002189
Type of place	destroyer, museum ship, preserved watercraft
Designations	National Historic Landmark
Contributing resources	1 structure

The nomination form, the document that argues why this place matters, is in the National Archives: Read the nomination ↗

Visiting

Address	W of Mt. Pleasant on E side of Charleston Harbor, Mount Pleasant, SC
Coordinates	32.7898° N, 79.9076° W · Directions ↗
Nearest national park unit	Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park · 3 miles · on Park Atlas
Federal campgrounds nearby	Buck Hall Recreation Area 26 miles

This one you can go inside. Hours and admission change with the season; the website above has the current schedule.

At a glance

State: South Carolina
County: Charleston County
Listed: 1983
Type: Structure
Landmark: Yes

Cell signal

Verizon: 5G
AT&T: 5G
T-Mobile: 5G (fast)

Outdoor coverage as modeled by carriers in FCC filings as of 2025-12-31. This product uses FCC APIs and/or Data but is not endorsed or certified by the FCC.

Official links

Sister site

Park Atlas

Every unit of the National Park System, with its fees, hours, alerts and campgrounds.

Open Park Atlas →

This record is built from National Park Service sources, re-read every Saturday, and Wikidata, re-read on the first Saturday of each month. Register Atlas is independent and is not affiliated with any agency, and a listing does not mean a place is open to visitors. How the data is built →

Explore

Map

Nearby in Charleston County

All listings in Charleston County →

Landmark · under 0.1 km

USS Clamagore (SS-343)

National Historic LandmarkListed

Landmark · 0.1 km

USS Yorktown (CV-10)

National Historic LandmarkListed 1982

Charleston Old and Historic District (Boundary Increase)

BuildingListed 1986

Local history books for Charleston County

We earn a small commission if you buy through these links. It does not change what we list.

The Huguenot Church in Charleston
Margaret Middleton Rivers Eastman and Richard Donohoe & Maurice Eugenie Horne Thompson, 2018
Find at Bookshop.org
St. Philip's Church of Charleston
Dorothy Middleton Anderson and Margaret Middleton Rivers Eastman, 2015
Find at Bookshop.org
Charleston's longest green line
Donald M. Williams, 2011
Find at Bookshop.org
Six miles to Charleston
Bruce Orr, 2010
Find at Bookshop.org
Vital signs in Charleston
Carolyn B. Matalene and Katherine E. Chaddock, 2009
Find at Bookshop.org

Guidebooks to historic places in South Carolina

Classic Carolina road trips from Columbia
Thomas M. Poland, 2014
Find at Bookshop.org
Columbia Civil War landmarks
Tom (Historian) Elmore, 2011
Find at Bookshop.org
Touring the Carolinas' Civil War sites
Clint Johnson, 2011
Find at Bookshop.org
A tour of historic Sullivan's Island
Cindy Lee, 2010
Find at Bookshop.org

Titles come from Open Library's catalog, matched by subject heading or by title.

Reference

Questions people ask

When was USS Laffey listed on the National Register?

Apr 12, 1983. It is also a National Historic Landmark, the higher of the two designations.

Source: National Park Service

Can I visit USS Laffey?

Yes. USS Laffey is recorded as open to the public.

Source: Wikidata

Where is USS Laffey?

W of Mt. Pleasant on E side of Charleston Harbor, Mount Pleasant vicinity, Charleston County, South Carolina. The nearest national park unit is Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park, 3 miles away.

Source: Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park

Where is the nomination form for USS Laffey?

The National Archives holds the nomination form, the document that made the case for listing.

Source: National Archives

Are there campgrounds near USS Laffey?

One federal campground is within reach, Buck Hall Recreation Area, 26 miles away.

Source: Campsite Atlas

Is there cell service at USS Laffey?

FCC coverage maps show Verizon 5G, AT&T 5G, and T-Mobile 5G at the listed point. Coverage indoors and behind old masonry is another matter.

Source: FCC Broadband Map

Is there a wildfire near USS Laffey right now?

1 active incident within 50 miles as of 2026-10-17, nearest C-74 Fm Rx, 29 miles away.

Source: Map

Sources

Location, type and contributing counts come from the National Park Service's National Register spatial data. Listing dates come from the National Register office's spreadsheet where it carries the listing. Construction date, architect, style, photograph and encyclopedia link come from Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, matched on reference number 83002189. Nothing here is transcribed by hand. The nomination form and photographs ↗ at NPGallery are the original nomination as filed with the National Park Service, and the form is often the best description of the place. The description under "What it is" is the opening of the Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA.