USS HOGA (YT-146)

Last Navy Vessel Still Afloat That Was Present

At Pearl Harbor On December 7, 1941

~ Introduction ~ The US Navy yard tug HOGA, after decades of varied and useful service, was permanently moored at the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum in late 2015 following years of dedicated effort by museum supporters. The tug has now been fully restored to reflect how she appeared in 1941. A ceremony at the museum, called Arkansas Remembers Pearl Harbor will be held on December 7, 2016; the 75th anniversary of the attack at Pearl Harbor. HOGA is the very last naval vessel still afloat that was present when our nation was attacked without warning and forced to enter World War II in 1941. What might seem to some to be an unlikely place, the museum is situated in the heartland of America. Not so... Appropriately, also on display at the museum is the USS RAZORBACK (SS-394), a World War II submarine that was in Tokyo Bay when the war ended in 1945. Thus, still-floating representatives of the US Navy that were present on the first and the last day of America's involvement in World War II are at the same venue. No other museum has such a rare combination to display.

Bill Lee

December 2016

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~ Yard Tug Data ~ Before and during World War II, the US Navy had dozens of tugboats built. A number of these were classified as 'district harbor tugs'. The USS HOGA (YT-146) was one of several constructed using the same general plans. These vessels were built by small, commercial shipyards as well as US naval shipyards.

They each were one hundred feet long and displaced 325 tons. Twin diesel-electric engines gave each of these tugs a maximum speed of 12 knots. In addition to carrying traditional towing gear, they had a large capacity for firefighting. Each of these harbor craft had a crew of eleven.

In June of 1940, orders were placed by the US Navy with the Consolidated Shipbuilding Corporation of New York for four tugboats. The Consolidated yard was located on the banks of the Harlem River in the Bronx, New York in an area called Morris Heights. Today, the shipbuilding site is part of a public park. By 1940, the firm and its several predecessors had constructed a large number of coastal watercraft, including many yachts. During World War I, minesweepers and tugs were built at the firm's facilities...in the shadow of high rise apartment buildings. The keel for YT-146 was laid on July 25, 1940. She was launched on the very last day of that year and given the name HOGA, which is the Sioux word for 'fish'. The following image shows her during outfitting early in 1941.

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~ Pearl Harbor Assignment ~ Following her builder's trials in the Hudson River, she was sent to Norfolk, Virginia, where she was commissioned on May 22, 1941. Assigned to the 14th Naval District at Pearl Harbor, she made the lengthy ocean voyage from Norfolk to the Hawaiian Islands by way of the Panama Canal and San Diego. At Pearl Harbor, she was assigned routine tugboat duties, including moving cargo lighters around the harbor and assisting warships in and out of their berths. On the morning of December 7, 1941 she was tied up on the south side of the harbor at the navy yard along with numerous other yard service craft near the dry docked USS PENNSYLVANIA. Across the harbor were moored several battleships close together in what was called 'battleship row'.

~ A Date That Will Live In Infamy ~

At approximately 0750 hours on that Sunday morning, the Japanese attacked. Quickly realizing what was happening, the officer on duty at the Navy's command center at Pearl Harbor sent the following uncoded message, marked Urgent, to all ships and naval commands in Hawaii:

"AIRRAID ON PEARL HARBOR X THIS IS NO DRILL" Ten of the HOGA's eleven-man complement were onboard that fateful morning. The vessel's Assistant Tugmaster, Robert Brown was sleeping in the pilothouse. The sound of exploding bombs awoke him.

"I raised up and looked out and all hell was breaking loose.

I saw planes all over the place. Japanese planes and several ships on fire." Down below, the HOGA's Tugmaster, Chief Boatswain's Mate Joseph McManus was shaving. The vessel's chief engineer was standing on the dock, enjoying what promised to be a quiet morning. Instead, he saw the battleship OKLAHOMA struck by multiple torpedoes. Without waiting for orders, the tugboat's crew got underway within ten minutes of the first strike.

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Heading across the harbor as Japanese planes dropped bombs and launched torpedoes aimed at the moored American battleships, the HOGA paused briefly to pull two sailors out of the water. Then she proceeded into the thick of the action, helping to pull the badly damaged repair ship USS VESTAL safely away from alongside the shattered hulk [right] of the battleship USS ARIZONA. The HOGA then went to the assistance of the minelayer USS OGLALA. This former commercial vessel was moored outboard of the cruiser USS HELENA. Damaged by a Japanese torpedo and sinking, if left in place, the OGLALA would have trapped the HELENA.

To prevent this from happening, the crew of the HOGA pulled the sinking minelayer well clear of the cruiser. A few minutes later, the OGLALA capsized, but the HELENA [in the far left background of the image on the left] was left unobstructed. The tug then went to the rescue of the battleship USS NEVADA. Although hit by a

torpedo, the NEVADA had gotten underway and headed to sea as the aerial assault raged. While negotiating the narrow harbor entrance, she was attacked by numerous Japanese aircraft, seeking to sink her there and bottle up the rest of the American fleet. Further damaged, the NEVADA's crew sought to run their vessel aground to prevent her from sinking in the channel. Aided by another tug, the HOGA assisted in this heroic effort, and then helped fight fires burning out of control on the battleship's bow. In the image on the right, one of the HOGA's crew, standing exposed atop the tug's pilot house, directed water at the fires.

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The HOGA than returned to 'battleship row' and helped fight fires onboard the battleships USS MARYLAND and the USS TENNESSEE. Once those fires were under control, the tug turned her attention to the raging fires that were consuming the remains of the USS ARIZONA. Between 1600 hours that Sunday, until 1300 hours on the following Tuesday, the HOGA's crew continuously fought the ARIZONA conflagration until it could finally be contained. Even then, there was no respite for the men manning the tug.

~ The Aftermath ~ The HOGA and her crew received a commendation for their response during the Japanese air raid. Following that attack, the HOGA, as well as other yard tugs and numerous harbor support watercraft were pressed into duty and participated in months of salvage effort to raise sunken vessels and clear the harbor of debris. Some of this work continued even after the war ended. Between December, 1941 and September, 1945, the HOGA remained stationed at Pearl Harbor, providing vital services to America's fleet of warships that eventually emerged victorious at the end of World War II. But in April of 1948, she was considered surplus by the US Navy and placed on loan to the Port of Oakland in California for use as a fireboat. She was moved to San Francisco Bay in late May of 1948 by a navy crew. Reconditioned by a local Oakland marine repair company, which increased her fire fighting capability from 4,000 to 10,000 gallons per minute, she was christened PORT OF OAKLAND and placed in service in July. The image on the right depicts her greatly expanded fire fighting ability on display.

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The day after her commissioning as a fireboat, the PORT OF OAKLAND rushed to help combat a fire onboard the freighter HAWAIIAN RANCHER. Several years later, her named was changed to CITY OF OAKLAND.

Over four decades, this tug-turned-fireboat was berthed on the Oakland waterfront adjacent to a firehouse. Whenever she was called to duty, seven firemen from that station went onboard this vessel, augmenting her two-man crew. This arrangement allowed her to respond to fire calls almost immediately.

Around 3 AM on October 31, 1984, the tanker SS PUERTO RICAN exploded and caught fire while approaching the Golden Gate Bridge. Flames shot an estimated 1,000 feet into the night sky. The CITY OF OAKLAND responded, and reminiscent of her efforts to extinguish the battleship ARIZONA's fires, she helped fight the tanker's fires until they were extinguished late the afternoon of the next day. In 1989, the CITY OF OAKLAND (ex-USS HOGA) was declared to be a National Historic Landmark. In spite of this distinction, the City of Oakland decided to replace her with a more modern fire fighting vessel in 1994. That year, the tug-turned-fireboat was returned to the custody of the US Navy.

~ The Long Road to Becoming a Museum Ship ~ The Navy had her moved to the Maritime Administration's Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet anchorage and announced that she was available for donation. It took several years for the Navy to decide which of five competing applications was best. Ultimately, a small inland maritime museum was selected. In 2005, a donation transfer contract was signed between the US Navy and the City of North Little Rock, Arkansas. It then took ten years of dedicated effort by numerous organizations to raise the necessary funding to restore the tug to the way she appeared on December 7, 1941, and then move her from the West Coast to Arkansas. During most of that decade the former USS HOGA languished in the reserve fleet anchorage, moored next to a much larger vessel. Finally, in July of 2012, she was placed in a dry dock in San Francisco, where she was made seaworthy and her naval appearance restored. 'Before' and 'after' images follow on the next page.

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Her journey to Arkansas finally began in early 2015. The Pacific Tugboat Service towed the renamed HOGA from the San Francisco Bay area to San Diego...gratis. There the vintage tug was placed onboard a cargo vessel that dwarfed her [see following image]. Next, she was transported through the Panama Canal; first to Houston, Texas, and then New Orleans, Louisiana. At both of those ports, red tape delayed her further passage to her new home. Finally, with all bureaucratic roadblocks overcome, the HOGA was towed up the Mississippi River. She arrived at the Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum...her new home for the foreseeable future...on November 23, 2015.

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~ Home Sweet Home ~

The Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum is a nonprofit operation, administered by the City of North Little Rock, Arkansas. Its facilities include barges that have been converted to serve as museum exhibit buildings. A small staff is greatly augmented by volunteers; a number of whom are Navy veterans. In addition to HOGA, also on display there is the USS RAZORBACK (SS-394). Her sail can be seen on the far right in the above image. The museum plays host to innumerable school groups each year from several mid-western states. Other visitors from all fifty states and 81 foreign countries have visited the museum since its inception. A solemn ceremony of remembrance planned for December 7, 2016 will commence at 11:55 AM, local time - exactly 75 years to the minute after the fateful and fatal attack at Pearl Harbor began. Afterwards, tours of the museum, including the historic HOGA will be made available to the public.