USS Potomac

USS Potomac , formerly USCGC Electra, was Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidential yacht from 1936 until his death in 1945. In January 2016 the USS Williamsburg was scrapped leaving USS Potomac and USS Sequoia as the last two still existing presidential yachts. On 3 August 1941, she played a decoy role while Roosevelt held a secret conference to develop the Atlantic Charter. She is now preserved in Oakland, California, as a National Historic Landmark.Service history1934–1945Potomac was originally built in 1934 by the Manitowoc Ship Building Company, Manitowoc, Wisconsin as the United States Coast Guard Cutter Electra. She was converted to serve as a presidential yacht and commissioned into the United States Navy in 1936. In the following years, Potomac was heavily used by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, for fishing trips and informal political meetings. The second funnel is fake, and concealed the elevator used for raising Roosevelt in his wheelchair in the unlikely event of having to enter lifeboats on the roof. In 1939 the United Kingdom's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth travelled with the Roosevelts aboard Potomac to George Washington's home at Mount Vernon.