USS Inaugural (1993-2013)

Here lies the USS Inaugural, an Admirable-class World War II minesweeper.

After seeing World War II action in Okinawa, she was decommissioned and sent to St. Louis to be a floating museum. Alas, the great flood of 1993 ripped her from the moorings on the riverbanks of the Mississippi River, she floated downstream and sank about a half-mile south of the Arch on the Missouri side of the river.

Normally underwater with just a couple of feet in view, the ship was revealed when dry weather in 2012 led to abnormally low water levels and the ship was nearly entirely on dry ground. Sometimes you could see the bow sticking out of the water, sometimes you could wade through about two feet of water to get to the ship, and rarely could you walk across and stay dry the entire way.

Sadly, in January of 2013, the ship (still mostly out of the water) was sold for scrap metal, bringing yet another inglorious epilogue to a piece of our history.