STAR-BULLETIN / 2001
A local group wants congressional help in forcing the Navy to provide land for a berth for the Hoga, shown here last year.
A local group is trying to get Hawaii's congressional delegation to pressure the Navy to give it land to preserve one of the last surviving vessels from the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Isle group pressures
to get WWII tugboatBy Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.comThe Tugboat Hoga Preservation Society wants to berth the 63-year-old Hoga at the Pearl Harbor Ford Island ferry landing between the USS Arizona Memorial and the Bowfin Submarine Museum on land already set aside to be part of a massive housing and commercial renovation project.
Last week, David Ford, the society's head, sent a letter to Hawaii's congressional delegation, saying there is "too much red tape" to go through the Ford Island development process. They want Hawaii's four members of Congress to step into the selection process and use their influence to change the Navy's decision, or else their project will fail.
Ford said he has already asked Rear Adm. Robert Conway, Navy Region Hawaii commander, for a temporary two-year lease from the Navy to booster their application. Ford said that Fluor Hawaii, which has been awarded $325,000 to develop housing and the Ford Island commercial ventures master plan, should set aside land for the Hoga.
Lt. Cmdr. Jane Campbell, Navy spokeswoman, said Conway has received Ford's 19-page letter and will respond to the group in a timely manner.
Last month, five organizations, including Ford's group, filed applications with the Navy Sea Systems Command to gain control of the Hoga, now berthed in the Navy's Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Suisun Bay north of San Francisco. It was taken out of service in 1996 after serving for five decades as a fireboat for the city of Oakland, Calif. The Hoga, which means "fish" in Sioux, has been designated a national monument.
The Navy has said those seeking a decommissioned naval vessel must show evidence of financing for the first five years of operation. Besides mooring, curatorial, financial and maintenance plans, the prospective recipient has to pay the costs of bringing the vessel to the islands.
Besides Ford's group, there are two Florida organizations, one in San Francisco and the city of North Little Rock, Ark., trying to acquire the Hoga.
The secretary of the Navy will make the final selection in a process that the Navy has said could take months or years.
In the past, the Navy has rejected Ford's request, saying the site once used by the Ford Island ferry has been set aside for commercial development to pay for the cost of building new homes on the island.
Ford said his group's first big task is to raise at least $250,000 of the $3 million to $5 million he believes it will take to bring the vessel here.
During the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Hoga fought fires on the USS Arizona, Vestal, Nevada, Oglala, Maryland and Tennessee, rescuing sailors from the burning oily waters.
