VALLEJO, Calif. — This little tugboat has seen its share of nautical history, and still has at least one dent to prove it.
The former USS Hoga, destined to become a preserved waterfront museum in Arkansas, came to roost temporarily on Tuesday morning at Mare Island for repairs.
The 71-year-old Navy vessel, most recently a tenant at the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, is a floating national historic landmark best known for a historic defensive role in the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.
The tugboat, with its firefighting capabilities, helped tow the stranded battleship USS Nevada out of a major harbor channel it was blocking. A dent from its contact with the Nevada has been purposely maintained since the historic battle.
The USS Hoga was tugged with a bit of pomp and circumstance to Allied Defense Recycling’s Mare Island shipyard docks about 11 a.m. Tuesday as a series of water cannons were shot off in welcome.
“It was a tribute to the old lady, and she is a lady,” said Allied Defense Recycling General Manager Gary Whitney.
Within months, the Hoga will join the USS Razorback, a submarine already moored in North Little Rock - capstones to the beginning and end of World War II.
North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Hays was aboard the Hoga during the ceremony.
“There have been some questions of why does North Little Rock want a submarine ... and a tugboat,” Hays said. “These two vessels, both in preservation and history and our reflection on it, to [be able to] share that history with future generations, to me, is extremely important that we don’t pass up.”
The Razorback was one of 12 submarines chosen to be present in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrender was signed on Sept. 2, 1945, according to the city owned Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum, which is near where the two will be docked.
The Hoga also served four decades as an Oakland, Calif., Fire Department municipal fire boat, and hosted a tour by former President Jimmy Carter.
The Navy signed over the tugboat to the museum in 2005 after about two years of effort. The museum beat out several entities competing for the donation, Hays said.
Fundraising efforts, timing and the economy have delayed its removal from Suisun Bay until recently, Hays said.
By coming to the Mare Island shipyard, Hays is hoping to avoid the cost of having to lift the 325-ton tugboat by crane onto a barge so that it may travel safely.
Instead, with Allied Defense Recycling’s help, the Hoga will have its hull made seaworthy and its large open body divided into several watertight compartments, making it less susceptible to sinking during transport, he said.
The Navy must first agree to this alternate plan, though, Hays said.
Some parts will be scavenged from two ex-Navy tugboats abandoned at the Port of Richmond. The vessels are in the Mare Island’s Dry Dock 2 for dismantling, said Whitney.Seagoing tugboats Lion and Tiger, formerly known as the USS Quapaw and USS Moctobi, were built just a few years after the Hoga.
Hays, whose 24-year run as mayor will end in January, said he may return to Mare Island to travel with the Hoga on its final journey to Arkansas.
Further information on the Hoga and on arranging a visit while it’s still in California is available by calling (707) 652-7360, or by visiting www.mareislanddrydocks.com.
Jessica A. York is a staff writer for the Vallejo Times Herald. This article first appeared Aug. 1 in the Times Herald and was used with permission.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 08/06/2012