USS Inaugural (AM-242) was an Admirable-class fleet minesweeper. The Admirable class was the largest and one of the most successful classes of U.S. minesweepers ordered during World War II. Inaugural was launched on 1 October 1944, and was commissioned on 30 December, with Lieutenant John H. Pace USNR in command.
The ship was decommissioned in 1946 and set up as a museum ship in St. Louis, Missouri in 1968. In the flood of 1993, Inaugural was ripped from her mooring and grounded a mile downstream. Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Inaugural_(AM-242)
Currently the Inaugural is still sitting on the Missouri side of the Mississippi a few blocks south of Chouteau. There is a break in the flood wall that you can walk through and view it from above, or scale down the steep bank to get a closer look. Since the river is currently at record lows the boat is completely out of the water. It has become a popular subject for photographers and graffiti artists.
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Fellow photographer and friend, William Stage and I visited the site last Friday (Dec 14) to try our hand at photographing the boat. We ran into another photographer, "Mike the Eye" who was also there to do the same. You can see his pictures of the boat on his public journal: http://miketheeye.tumblr.com
We conversed a bit, exchanged contact info, and got down to business photographing.
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Here are a few of my personal favorites from that day.
Happy Trails