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Monday, November 1, 1999

Tapa


By Ken Ige, Star-Bulletin
YRBM-1 at Pier 14 belonged to the Navy.



Floating ‘first’ will
soon be history

Is the city of Honolulu beginning to overrun its banks? Looks like a highrise right there on the water by Pier 14.

On closer examination, it appears to be a flat-bellied barge with a Butler-type building perched on it. NavyWat Dat? designator YRBM-1 is painted on the hull -- or is it a wall?

Actually, it's exactly what it appears to be; a floating building. Since we're on the subject of historic ships today, swing by the waterfront near Aloha Tower and take a quick look at YRBM-1, the lead ship in the "Yard Repair, Berthing and Maintenance" class of humble U.S. Navy yardcraft. It will soon be history itself, as the Navy has sold it for scrap to American Work Boats of Honolulu, who will raze the superstructure and keep the barge hull.

YRBM-1 was built in Pearl Harbor in 1955 and is more than a hundred feet long. Others followed in the class, which became famous as the "Delta Hiltons" of the Mobile Riverine Force in the Vietnam conflict. The YRBMs were home base for the fleets of small patrol craft that prowled the delta of south Vietnam, and are fondly remembered by veterans. One YRBM was the target of a Vietcong sapper assault that resulted in several American casualties.

The U.S. Navy, as usual clueless when it comes to historic preservation and naval history, are disposing of the remaining YRBMs -- including this historic first ship -- when an example could have been earmarked as a floating museum of the "Brown Water Navy." But the Vietnam-war era is something the Navy would just as soon we forget about, apparently. YRBM-20, the most famous of the Vietnam "Hiltons," is now berthed in San Diego.

Maybe in 200 years, like the Endeavour, someone will have to build a replica of a YRBM because none were saved.



By Burl Burlingame, Star-Bulletin

Curious about something you've seen?< Ask us:
WatDat?, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, HI, 96802
fax at 523-7863 or e-mail features@starbulletin.com.


Miller on tour

Honolulu fireman Kala'i Miller, who appears on "Baywatch Hawaii" and "Destination Stardom," spent last week in New York , making the rounds of several network television shows and magazines to promote the Hawaii-based television shows.

Miller visited the set of the NBC TV series "Third Watch" and interviewed Hawaii actor, Anthony Ruivivar, who stars in the drama. That interview will be featured in a segment for "The Hawaiian Moving Company" on KGMB.

Highlights of the trip:

Bullet A cover-photo session with Gym, a national magazine;

Bullet Interviews on the "Fox and Friends Morning Show" and "FOX News Now" on Fox;

Bullet Meetings with editors of TV Guide, Teen, YM, Seventeen, Entertainment Weekly, and Cosmopolitan.


Radio Log

Tapa

KONG 570-AM / 93.5 FM: Adult contemporary rock with some Hawaiian music
KSSK 590-AM / 92.3-FM: Adult contemporary music
KHNR 650-AM: All news
KQMQ 690-AM / 93.1-FM: Contemporary hits
KGU 760-AM: Sports radio
KHVH 830-AM: News, talk, traffic, weather
KAIM 870-AM / 95.5-FM: Christian music and teaching
KJPN 940-AM: Japanese-language news, adult contemporary music and talk showsn
KIKI 990-AM / 93.9-FM: Contemporary country AM; contemporary hits FM
KLHT 1040-AM: Christian radio
KWAI 1080-AM: Talk radio
KZOO 1210-AM: Japanese-language, broadcasts from Japan
KNDI 1270-AM: Live news and programs from the Philippines in 10 languages
KIFO 1380-AM: News, public affairs
KCCN 1420-AM / 100.3-FM: All talk / UH sports AM; contemporary island hits, FM
KUMU 1500-AM / 94.7-FM: Adult standards, AM; light favorites, FM
KHPR 88.1-FM: Classical, news, public affairs
KIPO 89.3-FM: Jazz, classical, news
KTUH 90.3-FM: Jazz, blues, Hawaiian, rock, country and alternative
KKUA 90.7-FM: Classical, news and public affairs
KKCR 90.9 / 91.9-FM: Hawaiian music, midnight-3 p.m.; and rock, reggae, classical and new age
KRTR 96.3-FM: Adult contemporary music and news
KPOI 97.5-FM: Modern rock
KKLV 98.5-FM: Contemporary Hawaiian
KORL 99.5-FM: Adult contemporary
STAR 101.9-FM: Modern hits
KKHN 102.7-FM: Country
KXME 104.3-FM: Top 40
KINE 105.1-FM: Traditional and contemporary Hawaiian
KGMZ 107.9-FM: Oldies



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