Here we have a small forlorn, weather beaten and rusty boat next to some big ships since 1996. Much like our Curbside Classics abandoned behind an old building. Ah, but that would be deceiving as she has quite a history.
Now I am quite familiar with this little boat. You see she was first Port of Oakland and then City of Oakland Fireboat for forty years. A friend of mine, in the 80’s, was one of her three Captains with the Oakland Fire Department where the boat was kept berthed next to a firehouse. She battled ship board fires, warehouse fires, rescued people and gave Jimmy Carter a tour of the harbor in 1980.
Yet before she was loaned to the City of Oakland she was YT-146 with YT standing for yard tug and entered service in May 1941. She also had a more formal name on her stern, Hoga. That places her in a very select group of boats made up of just two. She is one of the two last survivors of Pearl Harbor with the other being USCGC Taney in Baltimore.
Here she is helping push the USS Nevada out of the channel at Pearl Harbor after she tried to make a run for the open ocean but was stopped short. Photos courtesy of NavSource where I have had my photos linked which has a history of the Hoga http://www.navsource.org/archives/14/08146.htm
I wasn’t aware that she was in the Suisun Reserve Fleet as the Captain I knew had retired and moved to the Midwest long ago. So imagine my surprise when one day we are approaching a row I had never been on and I recognized what we were to disembark onto.
She was declared a National Historical Landmark in 1989 which doesn’t really mean much as she could still be scrapped. So now she sat and waited for an organization to appear and take her under tow to preserve her. She became lucky as she was taken in by the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum and was moved to Mare Island in 2012. It still took several more years for her to hitch a boat to Arkansas. Naturally I had my camera with me like always to shoot her for my files.
A small tight bridge.
Gyroscope
The cozy galley and crew’s mess
The very tight Captain’s Quarters.
The boats electrical system circa 1941.
Starboard side of engine room looking forward
Port side of engine
Other engine room pictures. Last one of the shaft exit I posted so all could enjoy the asbestos tags that are all over these ships.
Well that sums up my first attempt to document ships or boats that people see as ships or boats. However, to the crews of those ships and boats they are more than that way more than that. There is an emotional attachment to their ship that lasts a lifetime. While I was never in the Navy, courtesy President Nixon, my 20 years of volunteering on the Hornet have amounted to about 1200 days of my life. That has created an emotional attachment to my ship if you will. It has also given me the chance to make four former sailors, who served on two ships in the Reserve Fleet, a last chance to go aboard their ships by making them USS Hornet crew for a day and the chance to join us. Today the 120 ships of 1999 are now down to four.
Wow, some fascinating stuff. I had no idea that there would be any current survivors of Pearl Harbor’s Day of Infamy.
I looked up Consolidated Shipbuilding and see that it had a long history and built a large number of ships during the war. I wonder if there are any shipbuilders left in New York. I kind of doubt it.
I had no idea about that either. Out of curiosity, I looked up the USCGC Taney, and the National Park Service’s website describes it as “the only surviving ship that was present at Pearl Harbor navy base that day.” Seems like someone there forgot about the Hoga.
I’m glad the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum was able to preserve this piece of history — I’ll have to remember that next time I’m in Little Rock.
I pass by the Hoga several times a week on my cycling route. This is the best history of the boat I’ve seen. Glad to see it featured.
There is an emotional attachment to their ship that lasts a lifetime.
Yup. Tho it was only a two week cruise as a Sea Cadet at the dawn of time, I keep entertaining the notion of heading down to Corpus to pay the Lex a visit.
The C-47 driver who took me to Oshkosh last week did his carrier qualification on her in the late 60s, then was back twenty years later to get his ticket punched for carrier duty. We had a couple sea stories to swap.
Hey, I was at OSH, too! Fun storm Wednesday night…
Great writeup on this boat and its history and association with Pearl Harbor.
Back when my boys were in Cub Scouts (1990s), we did a couple weekend/two night stays onboard the Yorktown (CV-10) at Patriots Point, which included messing in the galley, etc. – fun!
My Dad accompanied us the last trip we made, and toured us through the Clamagore (SS-343), the last remaining Balao-class GUPPY III Fleet-type boat. Dad qualified in and served on the Burrfish (SSR-312) during Korea, and as we made our way through the Clamagore, he could still point to different lines and controls and describe their function, and shared more than a few sea stories from his days in service.
Dad is in late-stage dementia these days, and sadly, the Clamagore is likely to be scrapped or sunk as an artificial reef in the near future due to its degraded state and lack of funds to restore her.
Hey, I was at OSH, too! Fun storm Wednesday night…
We missed the storm. Flew in Monday morning, then home Wednesday morning.
…onboard the Yorktown (CV-10) at Patriots Point, which included messing in the galley, etc. – fun!
Bet you didn’t have to hang on to your chow as you ate. The Lex was the training carrier and ran between Florida and Louisiana, mostly at full speed as air ops were near continuous. They always seemed to run out of ocean and turn the ship around at meal time. I’d be halfway through my breaded steak and the 1MC would bark “heel to port”. I’d grab my tray and glass and hang on as the ship rolled as it turned.
My Dad accompanied us the last trip we made, and toured us through the Clamagore (SS-343),
Sorry to hear about your dad’s condition. My mom went the same way. The USS Silversides (SS-236) is one of 4 Gato class subs preserved around the Great Lakes. Really interesting tour, because I recognized so many of the stations in her from the many sub movies I have watched over the years (John Wayne’s “Operation Pacific” had sub interiors that are nearly identical to the Silversides’)
The C-47, which has a new paint scheme, went back to Oshkosh to have it’s new nose art applied the following Saturday. “Hairless Joe” was the name of a 47 flown in the China/Burma theater by the man in the pic, Dick Cole. Dick Cole was also Jimmy Doolittle’s copilot on the Doolittle raid and, at 102, is the last survivor of the raid compliment.
Cool story about Dick Cole!
I toured the Lex back in the early ’90s when she was still used for training. The normal tour guide had started the last tour of the day a few minutes before we arrived, and they were gracious enough to grab a sailor to take us through. He took us on an extended tour through areas not normally included in the normal one!
What an awesome history lesson! Just made my lunch hour. Thanks!
As an ex Navy Officer, first on reciprocating steam (refurbished liberty ship) then on a modern diesel I appreciate these photos.
Can’t find the flim photo of a reciprocating steam engine from the SS Jeremiah O’Brien taken in the early 90’s. However, here is another diesel engine for you from a ship I will leave unnamed for the moment. The ship is another unsung hero that served the Navy for 34 years at a far outpost and needs a story. Also one of my favorite ships to visit.
One of the two main engines in a WWII vintage LST preserved in Muskegon, MI
The generator room in the same LST.
Hoga in her new home in Arkansas.
I debated clicking but I’m glad I did. Fantastic. Thank you for taking the time to photograph it and write it up.
Glad you did and while I like cars, God knows I have 10, I really like ships. All I can do is sit in the car while I can wander days in a ship. Many times in total darkness except for the flashlight that I have. The farther down you go the more you can hear the ship talking from water passing the hull to all the creaks a ship makes when it moves. Once you get a chance to go you want to keep on going for each new adventure. Some of these I really wish I had a place for since I know I could restore them as I have had practice.
Great story, thank you.
Im retired from the US Coast Guard and very familiar with the history of the TANEY and was somewhat familiar with the HOGA as well. Its nice to see it restored and open to the public.
I live near the James River Reserve Fleet and it is sad to see some of those legendary old warhorse ships slowly deteriorate but since ship restoration is ridiculously expensive and an environmental nightmare, they cant all become museums.
Can you ID this Coast Guard ship? If not then I’ll post the bow shot later.
Polar Star or Polar Sea? Whatever it is, the stack needs some love
Bow
Aha USCGC Glacier WAGB-4. At least I knew it was a red bull ice breaker! I guess it’s out there in the ghost fleet?
Sold for scrap in 2012. Ah, but you do her a small disservice. Instead look up AGB-4 USS Glacier where you can see what is historic about her. On her maiden voyage she carried Robert E. Byrd who was a RADM at the time. A group tried to save her but didn’t succeed.
Excellent, thanks! I used to pass over the bridge (Benicia?) by Suisun Bay semi-regularly and always looked at the mothball fleet while trying to keep the car in my lane. I figured there were many interesting stories down there.
At first I found it interesting that a ship that small would have a brig, then I realized that I was looking at the captain’s quarters! Sparse is the word that comes to mind.
Very interesting; like Trains, Buses, and Tractors, yet another tangent for CC.
There was even something there that had a connection to the CIA and an eccentric billionaire aviation enthusiast who lent his name as cover which I have been inside.
We have the USS Batfish in Muskogee Oklahoma. Seeing a submarine in a park so far from the ocean is a surreal sight…
Wow. Like a beached whale, but more surreal.
Ah, but it escapes the #1 danger to many museum ships,,, hull damage from rust and no dry docking.
Interesting boat, never would have suspected by looking at it.