Potomac Cruise

Cruise to Angel Island aboard the USS Potomac, FDR’s “Floating White House”. Opened to the public in 1995, the Association for the Preservation of the Presidential Yacht Potomac now operates this National Historic Landmark as an active memorial to Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the momentous times through which he led our nation.

Once at Angel Island, discover another National Historic Landmark, the United States Immigration Station (USIS), recently reopened after extensive renovation.

Cruises depart from Jack London Square, in Oakland, at 10:00am and return at 3pm. Includes gourmet box lunch.

Tour Dates

September 22nd

October 27th

Schedule is subject to change.

For further information, visit the Potomac Association’s site or call: (510) 627-1215. Reservations are required and are available at TicketWeb or by calling (866) 468-3399.

This event is operated by the USS Potomac Association, with the assistance of the Angel Island Conservancy.  A portion of the proceeds go toward supporting Angel Island State Park.

History

The USS Potomac was built in 1934 as the Coast Guard cutter Electra. The 165-foot vessel, displacing 416 tons with cruising speeds of 10 to 13 knots, was commissioned as a U.S. Navy vessel in 1936, renamed the USS Potomac, and served as Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Presidential Yacht until his death in 1945.

After FDR’s death in April 1945, the Potomac began a long and ignominious decline from her former role in world affairs. After many adventures and many owners – including Elvis Presley at one point – she was seized in 1980 in San Francisco as a front for drug smugglers – impounded at Treasure Island, she sank. The ship was raised and unceremoniously dumped on the East Bay Estuary where she sat abandoned and rotting. A week away from being sold as scrap the ship was rescued by the Port of Oakland and the process of restoration was begun.

Since it opened to the public in the summer of 1995, more than a quarter of a million people have visited and sailed aboard former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s beloved “Floating White House,” the USS Potomac. $5 million was spent over a 12-year period to restore the 165-foot-long vessel as a memorial to the president who authored the New Deal and led the United States during the Great Depression and the World War II years.

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