The Fighting Lady
Securing our nation’s history with today’s technology at the Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum and USS Yorktown in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
- By Taylor Foster
- Jun 01, 2015
In 1975, one of the most revered naval aircraft carriers—the USS Yorktown—
was relocated to Mount Pleasant, S.C., to star as the centerpiece attraction
of the newly developed Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum
operated by the Patriots Point Development Authority.
Over the last four decades, Patriots Point has become South Carolina’s
number one heritage attraction with nearly 300,000 visitors each year. In addition,
the USS Yorktown offers one of the largest education and overnight camping
programs in the United States with more than 40,000 school-aged children participating
in these programs each year. With 28 aircraft on display with conflicts
ranging from World War II to present day, Patriots Point is one of the top sites in
the country for naval aviation enthusiasts. In fact, Patriots Point is the only aircraft
carrier museum in the nation to have all of the top 10 most significant aircraft in
U.S. carrier aviation history.
SPANNING THE WATERFRONT
The museum complex, which spans 40 waterfront acres, serves as headquarters
for the Congressional Medal of Honor Society and their official Medal of Honor
Museum; is home to a Cold War Submarine Memorial; as well as the 2.5 acre
Vietnam Experience exhibit that recreates a Brown Water Navy base and Marine
Corps firebase; home to the naval destroyer the USS Laffey and the Cold War
submarine the USS Clamagore; and operates the only National Flight Academy
aboard an aircraft carrier. The Flight Academy offers education programs in the
sciences and aviation for students in grades 7 to 12 and also offers team-building
exercises for corporations and businesses.
It is clear to see what the attraction is for the hundreds of thousands that flock
to Patriots Point. United States Naval carriers are among the most impressive of
all structures with a long history of carrying thousands of officers, sailors and aircraft to and from wars all over the globe. Protected by more than 40,000
tons of steel on a ship that is 888 feet
long, those who served aboard the famous
USS Yorktown Essex-class aircraft
carrier—the subject of the 1944
Academy Award-winning military
documentary The Fighting Lady—saw
battle in World War II, the Korean War
and in Vietnam, and later recovered the
Apollo 8 capsule and its astronauts.
Just as the USS Yorktown and the
other ships at the museum have undergone
adjustments to improve performance
throughout their history, Bob
Howard, Patriots Point director of operations
recently sought to enrich security
of the complex. As an institution
that operates 24/7 and 364 days a year,
they provide around-the-clock security
guards supplemented by video surveillance
and an alarm system. But, their
access control—consisting of keyed
locks—was antiquated and becoming
increasingly unreliable. Howard sought
the ability to electronically control and
record door access to certain areas
containing high-value equipment and
artifacts, which meant an upgrade to
access control software management
was in order.
VARYING LEVELS OF ACCESS
Patriots Point has approximately 140
full- and part-time employees, as well
as more than 100 volunteers, which presented
the need for varying levels of access
throughout the complex. Howard
stated that the keyed locks had become
totally ineffective as people were able
to make copies of keys and there was
no ability to record who had access to
what areas and when.
Patriots Point also began having
issues with individuals altering the
programming on the flight simulators
located in the Flight Academy—unwelcome
adjustments which take a great
deal of time to reset. Because the Flight
Academy is located along the general
tour of the facility, it made the simulators
vulnerable not to just employees
and volunteers, but also to the curiosity
of the hundreds of thousands of annual
visitors.
When Howard began investigating
access control solutions, Vernon Daniels,
a security consultant with Quintech
Engineering, who is familiar with
Open Options’ access control products,
arranged a presentation from Southeast
Regional Sales Manager Charles
Johnson. Johnson demonstrated the
features and capabilities of DNA Fusion,
Open Options’ flagship access
control software. DNA Fusion provides
a complete access control solution
including door control, visitor
management, and photo ID management
in an open platform that interfaces
seamlessly with other systems such
as video, biometrics and intercoms.
“We were most impressed with the
capabilities of the DNA Fusion access
control software and the simplicity of its use,” Howard said. “We were also
able to quickly procure the access control
system because Open Options has
a statewide contract for agencies in
South Carolina and as a state agency,
Patriots Point can choose any approved
vendor.”
Howard has initially installed DNA
Fusion access control software to control
the doors in the Flight Academy
spaces and in a datacenter. The hardware
used includes SSP-D2 native
IP-ready intelligent door controllers;
RSC-2 dual-reader interface boards;
and HID Global iCLASS cards and
readers. iCLASS products help make
access control solutions more powerful,
more versatile, and offer enhanced
security through encryption and mutual
authentication. At the same time,
iCLASS—like DNA Fusion—is userfriendly,
delivering the convenience,
affordability and reliability of proximity
technology.
DELIVERY OF AN EXPANSION
Patriots Point is now in the process of
expanding access control coverage to
the Leadership Training Facility, additional
cargo rooms, and the onboard
film studio, where living history videos
are filmed and events are live streamed
to schools throughout the state and
on social media. The next phase will
include installation in the education
classrooms, museum collections workrooms,
storerooms, and integration
with the video surveillance management
software system.
Howard and his team recently took
advantage of a three-day sales training
course in Charlotte, N.C., with regional
Open Options customers Charlotte-
Mecklenburg Schools and the University
of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Open Options routinely offers training
in geographically convenient locations
throughout the United States to
provide end users, administrators, and
operators with extensive hands-on instruction
in how to competently manage,
program, configure, and operate
DNA Fusion access control software.
Howard and his team at the Patriots
Point Naval & Maritime Museum
have discovered that the latest in security
technology allows for teaching old
ships new methods in providing a safe
and secure historic environment in the
twenty-first century—and it can all be
done with smooth sailing.
“The Open Options access control
product is so user friendly that the user’s
manual is rarely needed. DNA Fusion
has everything you need—I can’t
imagine anything that this system won’t
do,” Howard said.
This article originally appeared in the June 2015 issue of Security Today.