Local group tries to save historic tug
By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Central O'ahu Writer
PEARL HARBOR — A 3-foot-long model of the tugboat USS Hoga — an unsung hero during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor — is displayed at the USS Arizona Memorial visitor center.
National Park Service photo
The model is a tribute to the little boat that dodged falling bombs and exploding ships during the attack while helping battle fires on other ships and picking up survivors from the water.
A local organization is trying to bring the tugboat Hoga, shown docked at Treasure Island, Calif., back to Hawai'i. The tug helped other ships, battled fires and rescued survivors during the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.
Today, the actual 100-foot-long tug — one of the last two surviving ships from the Dec. 7, 1941, attack — languishes at a San Francisco Navy dock. Decades removed from its finest hour, the aging vessel sits in disrepair, the scrap heap drawing nearer with each passing year.
But there is hope for the Hoga, which is credited with preventing the Pearl Harbor attack from being even worse than it was.
Five groups across the country, including one put together at the last hour in Hawai'i, have stepped forward to try to save the historic boat.
It's still a long shot the tug will end up near the Arizona Memorial and the retired battleship Missouri, but at least it looks like it can be saved.
"We're scrambling to put our plan together," said Dave Ford, president of the Hawai'i-based Tugboat Hoga Preservation Society. "When we found out in March that no Hawai'i group applied, we decided to form and step in. This is a last-ditch effort to bring the Hoga home."
The Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C., which handles inactive naval ships and had set a June 13 deadline for the application filing, will evaluate the five parties and see which, if any, qualify. No timetable has been set on when a final selection could be made.
While Ford is glad other groups are also interested in saving the tugboat, he believes the Hoga belongs in Hawai'i because of its historical significance at Pearl Harbor.
The boat is on the National Register of Historic Places and listed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one of the nation's 11 most endangered historic places.
Ford also bristled at the thought that the Hoga could be used by one of the applicants — the Bill Clinton presidential library in Little Rock, Ark. — to give rides to visitors. Two of the other applicants are from Florida, and the other is based in San Francisco.
Daniel Martinez, historian for the National Park Service's USS Arizona Memorial, hopes the ship can be brought back to the Islands.
"The story of the Hoga is about a little ship that could, assisting the larger ships that couldn't at the time of the attack," Martinez said. "My main concern is that the Hoga finds a home in which she'll be well taken care of and preserved.
"To see her go to the scrapyard would be the ultimate insult to the Pearl Harbor memory," he said.
After the Pearl Harbor attack began, the Hoga — which means "fish" in Sioux — and its 11-man crew were credited with helping push the heavily damaged battleship USS Nevada into shallow water, preventing its sinking from blocking the harbor's entrance.
The Hoga also pulled the repair ship USS Vestal away from the exploding USS Arizona, and for three days straight poured water onto the Arizona's flaming superstructure.
The crew later received a special commendation from Adm. Chester Nimitz.
After the war, the Hoga was used as a fireboat for the city of Oakland for 43 years before being retired in 1993. The ship is now berthed in the Navy's Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Suisun Bay north of San Francisco.
Because the Hawai'i-based Hoga preservation group was organized at the last minute, it needs to catch up on securing financing to tow and restore the ship, estimated to cost between $1.5 million and $2 million.
An estimated $250,000 in in-kind donations such as building materials and docking fees have been secured toward the total, and the group primarily needs money now.
Another problem is securing a suitable location. The group wants to put the tug between the Arizona Memorial visitor center and the Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park, an idea rejected by the Navy. Navy officials said the Halawa Landing area is not available because it is used as a truck inspection site.
The Navy also rejected releasing the old Ford Island ferry landing because it has been set aside for possible commercial development to help pay for construction of new military housing on Ford Island.
That leaves the local Hoga group in a Catch-22 situation: Navy officials in Washington want the group to have a suitable site for the ship, while the Navy in Hawai'i wants the group to have financial backing before providing a location.
But Hawai'i has been through such an effort before and knows what it takes to get the job done. The Honolulu-based USS Missouri Memorial Association invested more than a decade to bring the Mighty Mo to Pearl Harbor, finally achieving success in 1998.
In fact, another Hawai'i effort to land the Hoga was mounted in the mid-1990s, but the group failed, largely because it was trying to raise money at the same time as the USS Missouri project.
For now, the model of the Hoga will be used to educate Pearl Harbor visitors about the ship's heroics.
But Martinez believes the real-life tugboat can be brought back home through "commitment and creativity.
"I know we're in awe of the giant carriers and battleships, but it is the small boats that do the grunt work that are usually ignored," he said. "Tugs normally end up being a small footnote in a harbor's history, but this tug on Dec. 7 went well beyond just being a footnote."
Those interested in assisting the Tugboat Hoga Preservation Society can call Ford at 228-5063, Charles Hinman at 423-1341 or e-mail at hoga@pacifichistory.net.
Reach Scott Ishikawa at sishikawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 535-2429.
