Ships of Fleet Week

Rose Festival Naval ShipsA history of Portland Oregon’s fleet week and the Rose Festival, including a list of all US Naval Ships that have attended these events through the year

By Rick Hamell

Rough Draft

Portland’s biggest summer event is by far the Rose Festival. A number of events across the city celebrate Portland’s civic pride and signal the start of Summer while celebrating the blooming of roses. With multiple parades and races to a carnival at Tom McCall Waterfront Park, this multi-week event is celebrated across the city and the region.

One of the most events most looked forward to is Fleet Week, where the City plays host to hundreds of US Navy Sailors and Marines and their ships. People line up for hours to get the chance to tour the Navy ships and take pictures of them from every possible vantage point along the Willamette River. While military personal are entertained with events put on specifically for them.

For many years Fleet Week and Rose Festival were two separate events held a few weeks apart. Both were created to bolster civic pride, bring economic advantages to the City of Portland, and to compete with other cities across the Pacific Northwest, especially Seattle.

First Fleet Week

The first mention of a fleet week in Portland was an ill-planned, but well attended affair. Two US Navy cruisers, the Baltimore and the Charleston, visited Astoria Oregon for the Columbia River Centennial celebration on May 11, 1892.1 This event was to celebrate the discovery of the Columbia River by Captain Robert Gray, and to celebrate the economic potential such a large river represented to the entire Pacific Northwest.

The main event was held in Astoria with 1000 tourists attending the celebration there. The morning was filled with speeches, the last of which was given in the Chinook trading language by Dr. William McKay. 2 The afternoon was filled with what may have been the first tourist trips to Fort Stevens.

Governor Sylvester Pennoyer of Oregon and Mayor William Mason of Portland both sent invitations to the Navy to encourage the ships to visit Portland afterward the Centennial. This was declined as the Columbia River was still somewhat uncharted and both ships were much larger then any others that had visited Portland already. Both men started arguing, via telegraph, with Washington D.C. to get them to come further down river with reassurances that the river was indeed large enough to handle the Navy ships. Finally, with the help of Senator Joseph N. Dolph, Senator John Mitchell, and Representative Binger Herman the US Navy relented and sent the two ships upriver to Portland.

1 Morning Oregonian, May 11, 1892, pg 12 Great River of the West, William L. Lang, http://amzn.to/24FZwPO

The ships arrived on May 14, 1892 to an estimated crowd of 30,000 people. Which was pretty much the entire population of the newly consolidated towns of Albina, Portland and East Portland at the time. They were given a 21-gun salute from the Untion Pacific Railroad bridge by soldiers stationed at Fort Vancouver. The two ships were opened for inspections, and 10,000 visitors boarded them on Monday alone. Visitors were taken to the ships via the Union Pacific Steamer S.G. Reed, and a number of smaller boats that were pressed into service to handle the load.

Rose Festival Beginnings

The concept of the Rose Festival came up after the immense economic and civic success of the Lewis and Clark Exposition in 1905. During his closing speech at the Exposition, Mayor Harry Lane suggested a yearly event to continue bringing the same attention to Portland. With a 28% return on investment for the Exposition’s financial backers, and the type of publicity that would end up doubling Portland’s population in a few years, this idea was met with very few naysayers.

It wasn’t until 1907 that the event was able to get off the ground though. It opened with the Rose Carnival, now known as the Rose Festival Parade. In a few short years this event grew to national attention and continues to bring many visitors to Portland to this day.

The Rose Festival spurned competition across the country, especially in our sister city to the north. After the success of their own event, the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, the citizens of Seattle wanted an event to keep their city in the news and to challenge the Rose Festival. And thus, the Golden Potlatch was born in 1911. 3 Due to Seattle’s close connection to water, the event was opened (ironically) with the arrival of the Steamboat Portland. The US Navy had a small navy fleet participate in the event, and the British Navy even sent a sloop-of-war to attend.

The Golden Potlatch event shut down in 1914 mostly to riots the year before between sailors and soldiers from the Navy fleet, and the Industrial Workers of the World labor union. Between those riots of the previous year and the coming war, support for the event disappeared causing the 1914 event to be shorted to only four days. It was finally revived in 1934 as the Seattle Potlatch of Progress and Fleet

3 http://www.magnoliahistoricalsociety.org/blog/2012/07/seattle-golden-potlatch-birth-of-the-seafair-tradition/

Week. But was renamed again in 1935 as the Seattle International Potlatch and Fleet Week. A key component of both events still included a number of US Naval Ships attending.

1908 – The Great White Fleet

The Great White Fleet was a fleet of 16 “modern” steam powered battle ships accompanied by a flotilla of auxiliary vessels. They were sent by President Theodore Roosevelt to circumnavigate the globe as a show of force towards Japan. The United States, recently thrust into mainstream international affairs after the successful conclusion of the Spanish-American War, embarked on a program to massively upgrade and build up the Navy. In 1906, hostilities towards Japan looked possible after Roosevelt mediated the Treaty of Portsmouth which ended Russo-Japanese War and the fleet was used to show the Japanese that it could be shifted from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean quickly.

The Fleet left Hampton Roads, Virginia in December 1907 and rounded South America on its way to San Francisco. Rear Adm. Robley "Fighting Bob" Evans was in charge of the fleet. Unfortuantely he contracted gout in Rio, and had to be relieved of command when the fleet reached San Francisco.

In 1908, sensing the public relations coup it would represent, members of the Commercial Club (who was in charge of putting on the Rose Festival) reached out to Oregon’s Congressional Delegation to find out the feasibility of getting the Great White Fleet to stop in Portland during Rose Festival. Senator Bourne, Oregon’s Congressional Delegation, informed the commission that Evans was the person to contact about getting the fleet, or a portion of it to Portland. As soon the fleet entered the Pacific Ocean they started sending messages to Evans requesting exactly that.

Unfortunately the messages did not reach Evans until he had been relieved. He sent them on to Rear Admiral Thomas who replied that the fleet’s movements were directed by the Navy Department and Secretary Metcalf in Washington D.C. The Morning Oregonian on April 25th, 1908 editorialized “The Metcalf-Perkins California combination has, so it would appear, more influence than Portland (the second largest port on the Pacific Coast,) and only the low-draft cruiser Charleston and the Gunboat Yorktown, together with the fourth division of torpedo boats will be here for the June Demonstration.” 4

Despite the disappointment, Portland turned out to welcome those Navy ships that did make it. After a rough trip up the coast where they go separated, they all arrived safely. The five torpedo boats under the command of Lt. Freeman arrived

4 Morning Oregonian, April 25th, 1908, pg 12

first. The next day the Charleston and the Yorktown arrived under command of Captain W.H. Patterson.

Two of the Torpedo boats present in the squadron were actually built in Portland. Wolff & Zwicker Iron Works located on at the foot of the east side of the Hawthorne Bridge built the Fox, Davis, and Goldsborough in 1899. The Fox and Davis were two of the boats present.

Above: The Preble, Perry, Farragut, Fox and Davis. Image from Vintage Portland

1913 – St. Louis

Fleet Week Born

In early June of 1935 Seattle socialite Mrs. J.J. Connell attended Portland’s Rose Festival.5 She was a member of the Program committee for the 1935 International Potlatch and Fleet Week. She had been sent down to see how Portland ran the Rose Festival and to let Portland know about Seattle’s own event, which started July 29th and ran until August 4th.

In her official capacity, she no doubt spoke with Mayor Joseph K. Carson Jr. and the idea of bringing the US Naval Fleet to the Portland Rose Festival was born. Individual ships had been present at the Rose Festival previously, but never in an official capacity. Mayor Carson flew to Seattle on August 3rd to attend the Potlatch and to speak with Admiral James M. Reeves, who at that time Commander of the entire US Naval Fleet.6

“Fleet Week in Portland Next Year Proposed” read the minor headline in the Sunday Oregonian’s August 4th, 1935 edition. “If some unforeseen circumstance does not interfere,” Portland will have a navy fleet week next summer, Mayor Carson declared on his return from Seattle, Wash., where he conferred with Admiral Joseph M. Reeves.

“I found the admiral entirely favorable to the idea of visiting Portland with a number of naval vessels,” the mayor reported. “I am sending him all data on mooring facilities here. Admiral Reeves is a friend of Governor Martin. They became acquainted when Martin was Military chief of the Panama canal zone.”

Mayor Carson attended Seattle’s fleet week and potlatch festivities in which a Portland rose-decorated float bearing Queen Irene Hegeberg won first prize for out-of-town entries.

Planning for the event began immediately. Mayor Carson conferenced

5 Morning Oregonian, June 5, 1935, pg 66 Morning Oregonian, August 3, 1935, pg 9

with A.D. Merrill, engineer for the Portland dock commission, and Phillip Carroll, executive secretary. The men decided that the Willamette River would not be big enough for Battleships to turn around in as they needed 300 feet to do so. This despite the USS Oregon being docked here at the time.

This limited the fleet to 10,000-ton cruisers and smaller ships such as destroyers. They decided that the ships would be berthed at the harbor wall (where Tom McCall Waterfront Park is now,) and west of Swan Island.

1936, First Fleet Week

Mayor Carson continued work on bringing the US Naval fleet to Portland during the Rose Festival. He visited Washington D.C. with a delegation of other prominent Portland citizens in early January to make arrangements, meeting with Secretary of the Navy, Claude Augustus Swanson7, and Admiral Joseph. K. Taussig8 (Sr.). On the 11th, he sent a telegram to his secretary, J. Kenneth Bain letting him know that that fleet would not be able to make it to the Rose Festival as they would be on maneuvers in southern waters until June 8th.

But Secretary Swanson wanted the fleet to still come to Portland and sent messages to the Fleet’s Commander to that effect. The Mayor of course was still joyous at the news and envisioned a gala to welcome and entertain the fleet and it’s estimated 5000 men. The US Navy assigned several military officers to Portland to establish expectations and make arrangements as an advisory committee. These men were Commander W.C. Faus, Lieutenant-Commander A.L. K(original source unreadable), Commander D.A York and Lieutenant R.H. Mitchell.

In the meantime the Mayor appointed Lieutenant-Commander, Ka(original source unreadable,) Harbormaster Captain Karl A. Prehn, A.D. Merrill, and John A. B(original source unreadable) to prepare drafts of the berthing facilities available

7 http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Swanson_Claude_A_1862-19398 https://usnwcarchive.org/collections/show/33

for the ships. Unfortunately they identified a number of problems right away. One major problem was a lack bollards used to tie ships up to the dock or land. They were found to be in short supply and nowhere what was needed for the fleet.

The dates for Fleet week were finally set in March 1936 for the week of August 3rd through August 10th, 1935, and preparations began in earnest. A committee of 60 people, headed by C.T. Haas was in charge of entertainment for the men and officers. They proposed a number of races and stunts on the river involving the fleet, along with dances, games, rides, and even golf tournaments for officers. The financial benefits to the city of fleet week were estimated at $500,000 and then later revised on advice from the navy to be $1,500,000.

Interestingly, the United States Engineers (later to be the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,) sent a ship to this first fleet week also. The survey vessel Robert Gray, built in Lake Washington was scheduled to leave Seattle on August 7th to arrive in Portland on August 8th. The new vessel was to join the Engineers other ships on the Columbia River.

Buried in the Oregonian, next to news of steps taken by the Nazi Party to stop opposition to their growing influence in the German city of Danzig, is a quite lengthy column about the Admirals of the fleet, and especially of one who had a deep connection to the USS Oregon.

Caption says “The USS Houston, above, crack 10,000-ton cruiser, which brought President Roosevelt here two years ago, will be back next Sunday as flagship for Vice-Admiral William T. Tarrant, commander of the scouting force, while her sister, the Chicago, is shown below leading a squadron of heavy cruisers in war games in the Pacific. The Chicago will

also be here, coming as the flagship for Rear Admiral J.O. Richardson, ex-chief of staff: Rear Admiral Fenner, who was here about three years ago; Rear Admiral Walter N. Vernou, commander of another division of cruisers attached to the scouting force, and Vice-Admiral Tarrant, upper right corner, as he appeared when he came to Portland in 1919 as commander of the old battleship Oregon to participate in the victory liberty loan drive.

Old Battleship Oregon to Win Houston Salute by Lawrence Barber, Marine

Editor, The Oregonian

When the heavy cruiser Houston passes the old battleship Oregon next Sunday afternoon upon the Houston’s arrive for Portland’s fleet week, the big cruiser is expected to show her respect for the proud old battler of other days.

It will be because Vice-Admiral William T. Tarrant of the Houston, who is in command of the United States navy’s scouting force, the ranking naval officer due here for fleet week, was the commander of the old Oregon when that famous ship made what many consider the second greatest run of her career, the Victory Liberty Loan cruise down the Pacific coast in April and May 1919.

In those days, the present vice-admiral was a captain who had just been detached from convoy duty on the Atlantic and ordered to the Pacific coast with the Oregon to help extract dollars needed to pay some of the nation’s war debt.

Admiral Loves Old Ship

Vice-Admiral Tarrant told C.T. Haas, general chairman of the fleet week committee, last week that he still loves the old Oregon. Being a rather sentimental man, as navy men go, he will doubtless recall with no little pride when the big Houston enters the Columbia river early next Sunday morning that it was 17 years ago that he entered the same river with the little old Oregon.

The old battler arrived in Portland April 27, 1919, and sailed away two days later to repeat its campaign purpose in San Francisco, Los Angeles harbor, and San Diego before it went to Bremerton navy yard for overhaul. Captain Tarrant was feted during his brief stay here, and will doubtless recall his dinner with the late United States Senator Mulkey.

Tarrant Instructed McCool

Vice-Admiral Tarrant graduated from Annapolis with the class of 1898, immediately went into active service in the Spanish-American war, was James H. McCool’s mathematics instructor at Annapolis in 1907, was in the transport service on the Wilhelmina and convoy duty on the USS North Carolina during the world war, commanded the Oregon in 1919, and now is one of the four ranking officers under the navy’s commander-in-chief.

During fleet week, officially August 3 to 10, Portland will be host to no less than six admirals, five of whom are rear-admirals. One of them will be J.O. Richardson, who was Admiral Reeves’ chief of staff during the last two years and who will come to Portland from Washington D.C., to take a new assignment.

The others will be H. L. Brinser, commanding cruiser division 4, scouting force; Walter N. Vernou, commanding crusiers of the battle force; E. B. Fenner, commanding cruisers of another division of the scouting force, and Clark H. Woodward, commanding destroyers of the battle force.

Each Has Cruiser

Each admiral will have a cruiser for his flagship. Vice-Admiral Tarrant will have the Houston, which landed President Roosevelt here two years ago; Admiral Brinser will have the heavy Chester; Admiral Vernou will have the Omaha, a light cruiser; Admiral Fenner the Chicago, a heavy cruiser, and Admiral Woodward the Detroit, a light cruiser.

The only cruiser coming without an admiral is the Milwaukee, whose captain, R.F. McConnell, a classmate of The Oregonian’s Mr. McCool, will be relieved here August 5 and go to Washington for his new assignment as chief-of-staff for the Asiatic fleet.

There are other sidelights of interest regarding this 22-ship fleet coming to Portland next week, according to word brought back from Bremerton last week by Chairman Haas.

While the cruisers will arrive Sunday and Monday and come from nearby port, mainly Seattle and Tacoma, some of the destroyers due Monday will come from the Aleutian Islands, where they have been on patrol, and others, due Wednesday, will have crossed the Pacific from their posts as members of the Asiatic fleet.

One Hour Intervals

Upon arriving in the Columbia river, the ships will leave up for Portland one hour apart and keep their distance behind each other so there will be no interference in the berthing upon arrival.

This will be the first time many of these ships will have been moored against docks anywhere except at navy yards. In most cases the fleet is forced to anchor out in bays or rivers and the officers and sailors desiring to go ashore are forced to resort to shore boats

for their transportation between ship and shore. Here, for a change, they may simply step across a gang-plank.

Not all of Portland’s visit will be pleasure for some of the gobs, for orders have gone down the line for each ship’s water tank to be scoured out and refilled with sweet, clear, cold Bull Run water while the fleet is here. The supply will last three or four weeks and will be free – a gift of the city.

The Arrival

The 22 ships assigned to the first fleet week had a staggered arrival. On Sunday the Chester and Chicago, both heavy cruisers, and the hospital ship Relief arrived in the late afternoon in Portland. The light cruiser Detroit was scheduled to arrive on Monday, but made it in earlier.

On Monday, 12 ships arrived. Two light cruisers, the Omaha and Milwaukee. And nine destroyers, the Litchfield, Goff, Sturdevant, Southard, Long, Hovey, Chandler, Reuben James and Bainbridge.

They were followed Wednesday by six more destroyers. These were newer, heavier ships. They were the Hull, Farragut, Worden, Dewey, Aylwyn, and the Monaghan.

All told, there were 6300 sailors, 330 officers, and 21 nurses in port. Most of the ships were able to berth along the waterfront at the harbor wall, but the cruiser Milwaukee got to berth next to the USS Oregon just north of the Broadway bridge. The hospital ship Relief docked a bit north of there at the Santa Cruz Portland Cement company dock, and three light destroyers docked at slip No2 at municipal terminal No. 1, displacing the eagle boat.

Of course, like all good plans this dock order appears to not have lasted very long. The Oregonian printed a map a couple of days later showing the three light destroyers tied up next to the USS Oregon, and the Milwaukee tied up on the west side of the river at Terminal No 1 a ways down river from the rest of the fleet.

Tours of the ships were available, 1pm to 4pm each day, no cameras allowed. The ships also illuminated the sky with their searchlights from 9:30pm – 10pm each night, holding the lights still for the last ten minutes just for amateur photographers to take photos.

Ariel view of the SE Waterfront during fleet week, 1936. Posted on the VintagePortland photo blog.

By all accounts, Fleet week was a success. Less than a month later Mayor Carson received a letter from Admiral Hepburn, saying that there was a considerable chance the fleet would be back next year.

1937

The 1936 Fleet Week was so popular that 1937’s was going to be even larger. Initial reports said up to 36 vessels, but ended up only being 21. But they were bigger ships, resulting in 16,000 sailors and marines, 1171 officers, 40 “giant sea-planes” and 220 aviators to visit the city.

The newspapers seem to have a lot less interest in fleet week this year. News of the event doesn’t start trickling in until July 4th when the Houston and Reuben James both visited Astoria on July 4th. Six days later, the Cincinnati and four (unnamed) destroyers left Portland a week before fleet week was to start on July 16. The Cincinnati was headed towards San Clemente Island to be used for instruction by the Naval Reserve. 9

9 The Oregonian, July 10, 1937, pg 10

Companies around town got into fleet week. To keep certain elements from doing so, the City Council permitted the Fleet Week committee permission to sell souvenirs. The C. Thomas Giffen from the Portland Traction Company promised the company would have every piece of equipment they had in service to provide for the extra visitors to the city.

This was also the years it became a thing to hosting sailors for dinner. The Portland Chamber of Commerce advertised looking for people to host sailors for Sunday Dinner.

15 ships arrived directly from Seattle’s Potlatch event on July 15th. The last six more showed up a few days later. The fleet spent $7 million dollars in Portland during this week. Another 30,000 visitors to the city spent millions more. In addition, the Navy saved money too. The fresh water of the Willamette killed barnacles on the bottom of ships, making them easier to clean and saving money that way. This fact alone was reason enough for the Navy to continue the fleet week tradition.

1938

After two successful years, 1938 Fleet week was gearing up to be a big one. The date had originally been set for July 16-25th, but was changed to July 22-August 1st. No reason was given for this change, but the city rolled with it. Over 1000 committee members were rallied to put on the event.

Charles T. Haas remained the general chairman. He appointed John A. Beckwith and L.P. Teeple as vice chairmen. Governor Charles H. Martin and Mayor Joseph K. Carson were honorary chairmen. 10

To help the chairmen with this now monumental task they had a huge military advisory committee. Members were Major H. D. Bagnall, Lieutenant-Colonel Geroge L. Dutton, Major-General William G. Everson, Commander W. C. Faus, Lieutenant John. F. Goodwin (a local military recruiter,) Lieutenant-Commander Nelson W. Hibbs, Captain James B. Hardic, Lieutenant D. J. Sass, and Lieutenant-Commander D. A. York.

The military advisory committee had an honorary committee also. Its members consisted of Major-General Geroge A. White, Major-General William G. Everson, Major-General Creed Hammon, Brigadier-General J. P. O’Neil, Leslie M. Scott, Hamilton Corbett, Aaron M. Frank, W. D. Yaw, Colonel Ralph H. Class and Lieutenant-Colonel John C. H. Lee.

10 The Sunday Oregonian, May 15, 1938, pg 8

Harbor Master Captain Karl Prehn now had the help of A.D. Merril and P. H. Carrroll. The finance committee consisted of the Walter L. J. Davies, Aaron M. Frank, P. L. Jackson, C. B. Stephenson and L. R. Teeple.

There was even an entertainment committee just for the nurses from the USS Relief . This consisted of Miss Eva Davis, head and her assistant Miss Mary Cutler. Miss Elsie Edwards, Mrs. Jean Hamilton, Mrs. Hildegard Spielberg, Miss Nora Marco, and Mrs. Marjorie Haller were committee members. Their plans for entertaining the nurses include a picnic Mrs. Julius L. Meier’s Summer home (called Menucha,) on the Columbia River highway, and trips to Timberline lodge.

Some of the nurses from the Relief they were entertaining were Miss Gertrude Dean, chief nurse, Hazel Parks, Jane Lynch, Susie Pitcher, Goldie O’Haver, Thelma Metcalfe, Winnie Gibson, Stella Shortride, Anna Redding and Margaret Joyce.

Additional prominent committee members were:Major Paul Hathaway – American LegionJ. J. Richardson – athleticsC. Thomas Giffen – city tour for enlisted menRay Conway – Columbia River drive for officersTommy Luke – decorationsWill R. Lewis – fishing informationWalter Holman – grand naval ballMichael Hodes - marine receptionMac Wilkins – navy golf tournament and poster committeeMrs V. W. Hansen – navy mother’s clubFrank B. Upshaw - paradeP. H. Carroll – Reception for officers and ladiesFred C. McGowan – religious activitiesMax M. Page – rifle and pistol contestLester Humphries – harbor reception committeeC. T. Haas – stag party for officersChief of Police H. M. Niles – shore patrolBarge E. Leonard – whale boat racesGeorge E. Sandy - warrant officers entertainmentManley Robinson – hospital shipPhil H. Muthersbaugh – executive secretaryCarl Werner – publicity committeeW. J. Hofman – ship’s hostR. A. Ward – ship’s hostJess L. Golby – ship’s hostJohn C. Watson – ship’s hostHarry K. Coffey – ship’s hostFlavel Temple – ship’s hostFrank McCaslin – ship’s host

Adelbert Clostermann – ship’s hostFred W. Rodgers – ship’s hostA. H. S. Haffenden – ship’s hostT. Walter Gillard – ship’s hostP. L. Jackson – Admiral’s host committeeL. W. Hartman – Admiral’s host committeeW. D. McWaters – Admiral’s host committeeJohn C Burgard – Admiral’s host committeeA. C. McMicken – Admiral’s host committeeMiss Charlotte Stuard – reception committee hostessMiss Evelyn Moorman – reception committee hostessMiss Masie Miller – reception committee hostessMiss Joyce Ekwall - reception committee hostess

*Note – several references say that were 20 reception committee hostesses. All were young, single ladies, elected by local clubs.

Ships berths were assigned much like they had been previously. Heavy Cruisers Chicago, Indianapolis, Pensacola and Chester were between the Morrison and Burnside bridges. Three more heavy cruisers were assigned the spot between the Burnside and Steel bridges. These were the Salt Lake City, Tuscaloosa and Vincennes. Alongside them was the Medusa, a repair ship that was brought along to make repairs to all of the fleet, and to the Vincennes specifically. Both these ships stayed an extra week to complete repairs.

Next to the public market building were the heavy cruiser Northampton, and destroyers Dewey, MacDonaugh, Dale, Monaghan and the Worden. The hospital ship Relief was once again assigned the berth at the Santa Cruz Cement company’s dock, while the supply ship Artic was left open so that it could be placed in the most convenient spot to supply all the ships.

Another interesting tidbit was this notice on Jun 26: “First oiling of the waterfront to prevent dust during Fleet Week, starting July 22 , will be done today, City Engineer Louis G. Apperson reported yesterday. The oiling will be done today on the waterfront from Jefferson to Oak streets. Remainder of the work will be done later so there will be no dust on the waterfront when the ships are in the harbor.”

Four days later, on June 30th, Mac Wilkins warned that poster contest entries would close at 5p.m. or with postal cancelation of midnight that day. The posters were meant to be uniform across the city to welcome the sailors to Portland. 11 The posters were being sold by the fleet committee in hopes of raising $10,000 to defray costs. Barbara Johnson, “Miss Oregon” was on hand to help sell them in addition to 1500 additional workers.

11 The Oregonian, June 30, 1938, pg 20

Just days before this event though, disaster struck Fleet Week. Permits to rope of streets for dances, and to employ an amusement company for carnival rides were denied by City Commissioner J. E. Bennett. Apparently Hollywood was instrumental in keeping permits from happening. Bob White and Joe Brandt protested to the council against the carnivals on the grounds that they took money away from tax-paying amusements. Bennett threatened to raid any carnivals with police force if necessary.

While not part of the fleet week festivities, two US Navy destroyers showed up in the Portland. They were the Perry and the Zane, and accompanied the three auxiliary ships. The two destroyers picked up local naval reservists and cruised to southern California two days later.

Perhaps in an attempt to make up for the lack of hospitality, the classifieds for this week are full of events geared towards sailors. From fishing programs to dances to gold tournaments, Portland went out of its way to provide entertainment for the sailors. In addition, admission to places like Jantzen Beach Amusement Park and the Multnomah Kennel club were waived for the men.

1939

Ship list by year

1908 – June 1-6 – 7 shipsCruisers

Charleston

GunboatYorktown

Destroyers (also identified as Torpedo boats) 12

FarragutPerryPreble

12 Morning Oregonian, June 3, 1908 – pg 10

Torpedo BoatsDavisFox

1913 – June 6-13 – 1 ship

CruisersSt. Louis

Above: The USS St. Louis at the Rose Festival in 1913, photo via Roxanne Cummings and Eric Ammerman at the Vintage Portland Blog

1936 – August 3-10 – 22 ships

United States Navy Heavy Cruisers

HoustonMilwaukee ChesterChicago

Light CruisersOmaha

Milwaukee

DestroyersAylwynBainbridgeChandlerDetroitDeweyFarragutGoffHoveyHullLitchfieldLongMonaghan Reuben JamesSturdevantSouthardWorden

Hospital ShipRelief

United States Engineers (Not confirmed)Robert Gray

1937, July 16-29 – 21 ships

United States Navy Heavy Cruisers

AstoriaChicagoIndianapolisLouisvilleMemphisMinneapolisNew OrleansNorthamptonPensacolaQuincyRichmondTrenton

TuscaloosaSalt Lake CityPenscola

DestroyersBrooksFoxGoffMarbleheadReuben James

HospitalRelief

Supply Arctic

1938, July 22-August 1 – 20 ships

United States Navy Heavy cruisers

Chester ChicagoIndianapolisNorthampton PensacolaSalt Lake CityTuscaloosaVincennes (stayed an extra week to complete repairs)

DestroyersAlywinDaleDeweyFarragutHullPhelpsMacDonough,MonaghanWorden

HospitalRelief

SupplyArctic

RepairMedusa (stayed an extra week to repair Vincennes)

1939, July 22-August 1 – 20 ships

United States Navy