In the Bay Area, a beautiful boat is just a dime.
But only one ship is Franklin D.
This is the aircraft carrier Potomac, open to public tours in Auckland Jack London Square. But, even locally, most people don’t hear its stories.
“She is still a relative secret,” said John Eichel, a volunteer at the nonprofit Potomac Association. “Many people in Alameda, right on the water, don’t even know.”
On this day, Eichel was on a tour to a small group of people who boarded the boat as the breeze rose and the temperature (hot and dry on land) dropped several degrees. The pelican soared drunkenly while the cormorant slides serpentine under the salty estuary. Sometimes there is a curious sea lion, but he seems to be on vacation.
The ivory and 165-foot-long, the modified U.S. Coast Guard cutter shows the president's aura, even though the welding crosses its abdomen like an annoying surgical scar, which shows evidence of the renovation after stretching. In the 1940s and 1950s, she wandered around the eastern coast and earned the nickname “Floating White House.” Roosevelt did indeed use her for official purposes, such as entertainment for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and held secret wartime meetings.
During a tour in Oakland, California on May 21, 2025, a visitor's living room can be seen on a Potomac.
According to modern theory, from partially disability in polio (or Guillain-Barré syndrome), the president transformed a chimney into a manual, rope and a resident of Priley’s elevator and a resident who could stand up and enjoy his famous weird martini.
Echel said the front end of the ship was where Roosevelt did business, followed by the president or “party end”. “So, this is the business ahead, the party behind,” a visitor quipped.
The top speed used to be 20 knots, but now it pedals at 11 knots. “Unless we have Captain Richard. He likes to push things a little bit,” Echelle joked. The same visitor raised his mouth again: “It sounds like he belongs to the party side of the boat.”
Potomac offers a one to three-hour tour, as well as a marina tour of the landlubbers, which is what we are doing today. It was hired as a charter, special parades on military dates such as Veterans Day and VJ Day, and hosted wine tastings and music for Blues and the cover band.
Franklin D.
In November, the ship will host Jennifer Pettley, executive director of Potomac Uss Association, calling it “live live on board.”
“We have an Elvis imitator, which is one of the best in the Bay Area,” she said.
Now, though, Eichel pointed to the toilet. When FDR was in charge, there were more than 50 crew members, including those from the U.S. Navy and Secret Service, and most had to share a “Head”. If you are not white, there are other inconveniences. The sleeping bunk bed of the Filipino crew was located on the boat, and the waves hit the worst, one of the external signs of discrimination at the time.
Roosevelt hated flying and was a lifelong crew member. He sailed through Hudson as a kid and then went on to become assistant secretary of the Navy. According to Eichel, he prefers boats made of metal, such as Potomac, because he doesn't want to be trapped on wooden wooden wheelchairs while burning.
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“I think he found his greatest moment of relaxation and peace when he was on this boat or another,” said Tom Dana, a volunteer volunteer.
Some say Roosevelt used Potomac to get rid of the pressure from the office. Others say they are fleeing Henrietta Nesbitt, the butler who oversees the White House kitchen. Nesbitt's motto is “ordinary food, clearly prepared”, and the food is so repeated that guests know what they will eat at when: Mondays are like broccoli, Tuesdays are cooked with beef and roasted with mixed vegetables.
“It happens that the most powerful person in the free world often eats only what he can afford in his supper,” a sign was written on the ship, “and then flip through the egg sandwich in a small kitchen next to the President’s Study.”
Roosevelt named the boat’s “Child Hour” after the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a period of working with his inner circle and guests, where topics about politics and business were banned. With Navy aid holding his arms, he held the court while mixing cocktails, and their recipes seemed to be emanating from Mars.
On a tour in Oakland, California on May 21, 2025, you can see the computer room on the Potomac USS (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
According to the 2021 article by the National Archives Technician, “The start of a martini is simple, usually 3:1 or sometimes 4:1 gin and dry vermouth.” “Shake on ice. Cocktail glass. Olive or lemon peel garnish. Then get complicated…. Maybe he might add some juice or liqueur when his home bar is restricted, or replace gin with alternative wine. Sometimes the extra measures for gin can be done on the safe side because he can meet huge performances in the story. To be “really bad.”
Potomac tried to fish like fishing, like fishing, once sent out a “extremely ugly” catch to incorporate it into the Smithsonians, and, like a secret meeting with Winston Churchill, attended the Atlantic Charter Conference of World War II with Winston Churchill. But as the war intensified, German U-shaped ships patrolled the coast, she was confined to local waters and eventually sold to Maryland and then to private owners.
That's when the story becomes strange.
Years of neglect made Potomac very demanding for TLC. It ended up docking at Long Beach, which is said to be used as a floating disco. “People are always interested in her, but no one has the resources to maintain her,” Aichel explained.
That's where Elvis Presley turned her eyes to her in 1964. The King purchased the yacht for $55,000 and was willing to donate it to Dimes March of Dimes, a tribute to FDR, which helped the charity. But the gesture was rejected because Potomac was so poor at that time that it was considered a burden rather than a gift. His proposal to Florida Coast Guard auxiliary staff also gained benefits. Eventually, Elvis found a willing person at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and donated her just a few months later.
The original bell of the aircraft carrier Potomac was on display on May 21, 2025 in Oakland, California (Dai Sugano/bay Area News Group).
“At the time, the British invasion was underway,” Paitley said. “They were looking for the opportunity to keep Elvis' name there, and maybe that's why they bought the President's yacht.”
Potomac's name surfaced in 1980, when the Federal Reserve announced the largest contemporary drug bust and all-things of convert miners in western U.S. history, caught and dragged away after drug runners showed the sign of “cruel American children's society.”
“They recovered 20 tons of Columbia weed for a street value of $40 million,” Echel said. “Most of the cannabis is on the converted minesweeper. The USS Potomac is just the cover.”
On May 21, 2025, the USS Potomac miniature model (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group) is on display at the Potomac Visitor Center in Oakland, California
This is the lowest point in ship history. Well, that's not the lowest – that's after sinking near Treasure Island. The theory is that extremely low tides pierce the submerged piles through the hull. Potomac quietly rotted under the waves, and its base became a skeleton frame until Auckland Harbor bought her for $15,000 to renovate it into a tourist attraction in Jack London Square.
She has worked hard to repair her, and will celebrate her 30th anniversary this year, according to the original plan. Now, the Potomac Uss looks like it's new, except for some modern tweaks that might surprise FDR.
“There is an old-fashioned steering wheel, and sometimes cheeky passengers come and ask the captain if he can guide the boat,” Echelle said. “He lets them. But what they don't know is that he actually uses a little joystick to control it elsewhere in the cabin.”
detail: Potomac USS offers weekly cruises and marina tours from 540 Auckland Water Street; for price and time visits usspotomac.org
If you like unusual cruising…
Do you want to take a flight to bring you a good story? The Potomac is not the only unique boat in the Bay Area – consider rotating one of them.
Monterey's naturalist Cindy Rice of Monterey on Thursday, August 3, 2023. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Corp)
Monterey Bay Eco Tour: Montereybayecotours.com
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Adventure Cat: www.adventurecat.com
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City Tour: www.cityexperiences.com
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