The Floating White House

The Potomac

We took our dinghy across the Inner Harbor Channel one day to tour FDR’s yacht, the Potomac, moored next to the Oakland ferry terminal.  The USS Potomac was built in 1934 as the Coast Guard cutter Electra.  In 1936 the ship was commissioned as a U.S. Navy vessel and renamed the USS Potomac to serve as Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Presidential Yacht.  The Potomac played a major role in world affairs but after FDR’s death, she began her sad decline and changed ownership numerous times.  In 1980 she was seized in San Francisco as a front for drug smuggling and impounded at Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay where she sank, her hull had been pierced.  The vessel was raised only to be dumped in the East Bay Estuary.  A week away from being sold as scrap, the ship was rescued by the Port of Oakland and the process of restoration began with the help of Government monies from President Reagan.  The structure of the vessel proved to be sound, and the interior was restored and furnished to match the original as closely as possible.  Five million dollars were spent over a 12-year period to restore the 165 foot vessel as a memorial to the president who authored the New Deal and led the United States through the Great Depression and World War II years.  The Potomac opened to the public in 1995 offering dock-side guided tours and cruises.

Roosevelt loved the sea.  He spent most of his summer holidays with his parents off the coast of Maine where he learned to sail; at first in small sailboats which he cruised amongst the neighboring islands.  As a young man he acquired a 37-foot schooner, the Half Moon, which he sailed along the New England coast.  Regrettably, he had to part with the yacht in 1921 when he was affected by polio.  After an intensive swimming program and strengthening exercises, he resumed sailing and chartered a small yawl, the Amberjack II, which he sailed with his sons until the summer of 1933.  After his election as President in 1932, he ordered the re-fitting of the Electra and re-named it the USS Potomac.  Roosevelt’s tastes were simple, preferring the look and feel of a navy ship rather than a pretentious yacht.  Since Roosevelt didn’t like traveling by plane he often traveled by train or aboard his presidential yacht.  He spent so much time on the USS Potomac that it was nicknamed “the Floating White House.”

Fantail of the Potomac

Relaxing on the Fantail as did FDR

The Dining Room

Ship's Elevator for FDR