Among the many vessels in the Bay Area, few can claim a history as turbulent and star-studded as the USS Potomac. The ship has served as a presidential yacht for Franklin D. Roosevelt, was briefly owned by Elvis Presley, became entangled in one of the largest drug busts in U.S. history, and even sank, only to be resurrected as a National Historic Landmark.
Now docked at Oakland’s Jack London Square, the 165-foot, ivory-white vessel remains one of the area’s best-kept secrets. “She’s a relative secret, still,” notes John Eichel, a volunteer docent for the nonprofit USS Potomac Association. “Many folks in Alameda, right across the water, don’t even know about it.”
Originally a U.S. Coast Guard cutter, the Potomac was modified to serve as FDR’s “Floating White House.” The president, who had a lifelong love of the sea and an aversion to flying, used the ship for both leisure and statecraft. He entertained foreign dignitaries like King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and conducted secret wartime meetings aboard its decks.
To accommodate his partial paralysis from polio, Roosevelt had a smokestack converted into a hand-powered elevator. He often retreated to the ship’s fantail—the “party end,” as docents call it—to escape not only the pressures of his office but also the notoriously bland cuisine of the White House housekeeper. Here, during a daily “Children’s Hour,” politics were forbidden as the president held court, mixing cocktails his grandson would later describe as “truly awful.”
Life aboard the ship reflected the era’s realities. Over 50 crew members, including U.S. Navy and Secret Service personnel, shared a single bathroom, and Filipino crew members were quartered in the ship’s bow, where the ride was roughest.
After Roosevelt’s death and with German U-boats limiting its travel, the Potomac was sold and fell into years of neglect. Its story took a strange turn in 1964 when Elvis Presley purchased the yacht for $55,000. He intended to donate it to the March of Dimes as a tribute to FDR, a founder of the charity. However, the ship’s poor condition led the organization to decline the gift. After another rejection from the Coast Guard Auxiliary, Presley successfully donated it to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The Potomac’s notoriety peaked in 1980 when federal agents seized it as part of a major drug-smuggling operation. The vessel was used as a decoy alongside a converted minesweeper, which carried 20 tons of Colombian marijuana valued at $40 million.
The ship’s lowest point came shortly after, when it sank in 30 feet of water near Treasure Island, its hull believed to have been pierced by a submerged piling during a low tide. It lay decaying on the seabed until the Port of Oakland purchased the wreck for $15,000.
Following a painstaking restoration based on its original plans, the USS Potomac was reborn. Now celebrating 30 years back on the water, the ship operates as a floating museum, offering public cruises, dockside tours, and special events. While meticulously returned to its 1940s glory, a few modern updates exist. As Eichel notes, the captain often lets curious guests take the ship’s old-fashioned steering wheel, unaware that he is actually guiding the vessel with a small, hidden joystick.
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