Moored On The Oregon Side Of The Columbia River At The Bridge From Vancouver To Portland Is An Old Navy Vessel. It Is Painted And Has A Number Painted On It. Is This Ship An Old WW1 Sub Chaser?

According to the daily newspaper, The Columbian out of Vancouver, Washington, three salvage teams have been working for several years to restore old Navy ships. These men are members of the PT club, which has been involved with the restoration old PT boats for a many years. At the present time two ships are anchored on the Columbia River near the former Kaiser Shipyard east of the Interstate 5 Bridge.

The city of Portland, partnered with the salvage teams are trying to find a permanent place to establish, a Ghost fleet of old Navy ships museum. The site being considered is the old Centennial Mill near Fremont Bridge. However, one of the teams has a permit to build a site on near the Naval Reserve Center on Swan Island.

One of the ships is the Higgins, a 78 foot PT 658 built in 1945, which went into service only a month before the end of World II. This is more than likely the particular ship you asked about and the number you saw is PT658. The PT 658 never saw action and is very similar to the PT boat, on which John F. Kennedy, former President was injured during World War II.

Besides the PT ships they are also salvaging Coast Guard cutters, and one such ship is sea worthy and being used to help develope the Portland Council of Sea Cadets. This ship is sea-worthy and being used for training voyages for the Sea Cadets. This ship is the 1926 Coast Guard Cutter Alert and besides the PT658 there are two other restored ships. The LCI 713 a troop-landing vessel and the LST 1165, which was the USS Washtenaw County that served in the Vietnam war as a tank landing vessel.

At the present time they are trying to purchase, two other ships, now mothballed, the Sakarissa YT-269 from World War II and the USS Vancouver used in the Vietnam war as an amphibious transport dock. These will probably be displayed in Vancouver or Portland, if the Amphibious Forces Maritime Museum group succeeds in purchasing them.

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