|
|
 |
 |
| Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co., Manitowoc,
Wisconsin launches the 18th "Thetis Class" U.S.
Coast Guard patrol boat, named the Electra. The vessel
is assigned to duty patrolling the Atlantic coastal waters. |
|
|
|
|
|
| The USCG Electra is dispatched to Norfolk
Naval Shipyard, Virginia for conversion to Presidential
service to replace the Presidential Yacht USS Sequoia. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Conversion work is completed. Additions
included the presidential and guest quarters, the boat
deck and FDR's elevator installed in the false aft smokestack.
Yacht is named USS Potomac. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Officially commissioned by the Navy, the
USS Potomac begins its service as FDR's "Floating
White House". |
|
|
|
|
|
| FDR first entertains guests aboard the
USS Potomac on a cruise to the Bahamas. |
|
|
|
|
|
| FDR broadcasts a nationwide speech from
the USS Potomac at Fort Lauderdale harbor in Florida. |
|
|
|
|
|
| An additional gun is added to the boat
deck fantail in preparation for FDR's secret Atlantic
Charter meeting with England's Prime Minister Winston
Churchill. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Due to wartime security concerns, FDR issues
order for the USS Potomac to be confined to protected
waters. Still officially the President's yacht the USS
Potomac is assigned to duty at the Navy's Underwater Sound
Testing Station. |
|
|
|
|
|
| After FDR's death in April, the USS Potomac is decommissioned by the Navy and returned to the US Coast
Guard. |
|
|
|
|
|
| At Norfolk, Virginia, the Potomac is divested
of fittings and furnishings except for the President's
custom stainless steel bathtub and prepared for active
duty by the US Coast Guard. Dining Saloon becomes the
Wardroom. |
|
|
|
|
|
| The Potomac is ordered to the Coast Guard
Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland, for permanent decommissioning
from federal service. |
|
|
|
|
|
| The Potomac is turned over to the Maryland
Tidewater Fisheries Commission and is used for fisheries
patrol and occasional use by the Governor of Maryland. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Aging and expensive to operate, the Potomac is sold to W.G. Toone of The Neptune corporation for use
as a ferry between San Juan Puerto Rico, and the Virgin
Islands. |
|
|
|
|
|
| The Potomac is sold to Hydro Capital of
Newport Beach, California. Plans to refurbish the vessel
and use it as a traveling historical museum of the FDR
era do not materialize. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Now docked at Long Beach, California, entertainer
Elvis Presley buys the Potomac from Hydro Capital for
$55,000. Presley offers it as a donation to the March
of Dimes. Offer is refused due to expense to refit and
maintain the vessel. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Elvis Presley donated the Potomac to St.
Jude Hospital of Memphis Tennessee. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Marie Pagliasso of Fresno, California,
takes out a $65,000 loan to buy the Potomac from St. Jude
Hospital. She is an investment partner along with Fresno
businessman Carton Taylor, for a group called the Presidential
Yacht Potomac, Inc. which intends to operate it as a floating
disco in Long Beach, California. Teak decks are torn up
and replaced with concrete. Disco never opens. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Carton Taylor becomes sole owner of the
Potomac when the Pagliosso estate defaults in loan payments. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Aubrey Phillips, a bail bondsman and commercial
fisherman, leases the Potomac from Carton Taylor. Phillips
is also a key member of the Presidential Yacht Potomac,
Inc. group. Yacht is moved to Stockton, California, where
it is opened to the public briefly. |
|
|
|
|
|
| The Potomac is towed 80 miles to Pier 26,
in San Francisco, where Presidential Yacht Potomac, Inc.
purports it will attract more support and soon be open
again for public viewing. US Dept. of the Interior considers
project for restoration and operation as a National Park
Service floating museum. |
|
|
|
|
|
| The Potomac is seized by US Customs and
the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), along with illegal
drug-laden yacht Valkyre. Investigators determine the
Potomac has been used as a "smugglers' command post"
by a Long Beach drug ring using a fraudulent charity.
"The Crippled Children's Society", as cover
for its operations. Aubrey Phillips and the "Society"
president are among those arrested and charged. |
|
|
|
|
|
| The Potomac is towed to Clipper Cove pier,
Treasure Island Naval Base, to be held as evidence. |
|
|
|
|
|
| The Port of Oakland, under Executive Director
Walter Abernathy, is the only bidder at US Customs auction
and buys the Potomac for $15,000. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Potomac loaded on a barge and towed to
the Colberg shipyard in Stockton, CA. for renovation. |
|
|
|
|
|
| The ship is opened to the public on Oakland's
Maritime Day |
|
|
|
|
|
