Potomac

U.S.S. Potomac

(Rhenania RH-166)

Class: Potomac - presidential yacht of 1935
Displacement: 370 tons light / 416 tons full
Dimensions: 165 x 24 x 8 ft.
Machinery: 2 Winton model 6-158 diesel engines, 1340 shp; twin shaft = 13 knots
Complement: 45

Notes: Built as the United States Coast Guard Cutter Electra. Converted to serve as the presidential yacht and transferred to the United States Navy in 1936. Used by President Franklin D. Roosevelt for a variety of trips and meetings. Sailed to Vineyard Sound in Aug 1941 where FDR transferred to cruiser USS Augusta for his secret trip to Argentia, Newfoundland to meet British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Their meeting resulted in the issuance of the Atlantic Charter, an agreement on how the Allies would prosecute World War II if and when the United States became involved. Meanwhile, the Potomac continued cruising in the Cape Cod area with an FDR look-alike onboard to help maintain the secrecy of the mission.
After FDR's death, Potomac was decommissioned and returned to Coast Guard control. From 1946 she served with the Maryland Tidewater Fisheries Commission. Sold in 1960 to be a private ferry in the Caribbean. Purchased in 1964 by Elvis Presley and given to St. Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis for sale at a charity auction. In 1980 she was seized by the US Customs Service in San Francisco for drug smuggling and towed to Treasure Island and temporarily sank. Then sold to the Port of Oakland where she underwent a major restoration and is now berthed at Jack London Square in Oakland as a cruise ship and tourist attraction.