USS Sequoia (presidential yacht)
Sequoia in Washington Marina in 2008
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| History | |
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| Name: | Sequoia II |
| Namesake: | Sequoyah |
| Owner: |
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| Builder: | Mathis Yacht Building Co., Camden, New Jersey |
| Cost: | $200,000 |
| Laid down: | 1925 |
| Launched: | 1926 |
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| Name: | Sequoia |
| Owner: | United States Department of Commerce |
| Acquired: | by purchase, 24 March 1931 |
| In service: | 1931 |
| Out of service: | 1933 |
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| Name: | USS Sequoia (AG-23) |
| Owner: | United States Navy |
| Commissioned: | 25 March 1933 |
| Decommissioned: | 1936 |
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| Name: | Sequoia |
| Owner: | Secretary of the Navy |
| In service: | 1936 |
| Out of service: | 1977 |
| Struck: | 1 October 1968 |
| Fate: | Sold at auction 18 May 1977 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Yacht |
| Displacement: | 90 long tons (91 t) |
| Length: | 104 ft (32 m) |
| Beam: | 18 ft 2 in (5.54 m) |
| Draft: | 4 ft 5 in (1.35 m) |
| Speed: | 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement: | 10 |
| Armament: | None |
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USS Sequoia (yacht)
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USS Sequoia
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| Location |
Washington Channel Washington, D.C. |
| Coordinates | 38°52′32.4″N 77°01′20.5″W / 38.875667°N 77.022361°WCoordinates: 38°52′32.4″N 77°01′20.5″W / 38.875667°N 77.022361°W |
| Built | 1933 |
| Architect | Trumpy, John; Mathis Yacht Building Co. |
| NRHP Reference # | 87002594 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | 23 December 1987 |
| Designated NHL | 23 December 1987 |
USS Sequoia is a former United States presidential yacht used from Herbert Hoover to Jimmy Carter, who had it sold in 1977. The ship was decommissioned under Roosevelt and lost its "USS" status at that time, but by popular convention is still often used. NorshipCo, a Norfolk-based shipbuilder and dry-docking company, repossessed the yacht after its owners, Presidential Yacht Sequoia Foundation, failed to pay the $3 million it cost to renovate the vessel.Sequoia was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987. The yacht is 104 feet (32 m) long, with a wooden hull, and was designed by John Trumpy Sr., a well-known shipbuilder. It includes a presidential stateroom, guest bedrooms, a galley and dining room, and was at one time retrofitted with an elevator for Franklin D. Roosevelt (Lyndon Johnson had it removed and replaced with a liquor bar).
In June 2000, she was sold via auction on Bid4Assets, to Gary Silversmith who took ownership that September. In November 2004, she was sought for repurchase by the US government, but the owner declined the offer. In December of 2014 Sequoia was hauled out of the water and placed in storage at a commercial boat yard awaiting resolution of a court case involving her ownership. As of November 2016 the yacht was still in storage as the lengthy litigation continued.
Sequoia started out as Sequoia II, a private yacht built for $200,000 in 1925/1926 at a Camden, New Jersey shipyard. She was built for Richard Cadwalader of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who sold her to William Dunning, the president of the Sequoia Oil Company in Texas.
Sequoia was purchased in 1931 by the United States Department of Commerce, for Prohibition patrol and decoy duties. Bootleggers would see what they thought was a rich-man's yacht and boat over to offer to sell illegal liquor, and then undercover police would arrest them. Herbert Hoover, an avid fisherman, had decommissioned the presidential yacht Mayflower in 1929 as an economy measure, and borrowed Sequoia from the Commerce Department as an unofficial yacht during the last two years of his presidency. Hoover was not personally a supporter of prohibition and drank while on the yacht.
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Wikipedia