SS Red Oak Victory returns home after extensive restoration

RICHMOND, CALIF. — A World War II cargo ship named in honor of the sacrifices of Montgomery County soldiers has been restored.

The SS Red Oak Victory was formally relaunched at a Veterans Day celebration recreating the boat’s 1944 christening ceremony.

Marian Sauer, the day’s matron of honor, shattered the ceremonial champagne bottle over a flag-draped replica of the Red Oak bow, exploding the bubbly over herself and revelers standing nearby.

She was playing the role of Edna Reily, the wife of former Red Oak mayor W.S. Reiley, who christened the original ship at Kaiser Shipyard No. 1 on Nov. 9, 1944.

The ship had recently returned from a month in dry dock in San Francisco where it received fresh paint and various repairs.

According to an article at kaiserpermanentehistory.org, a small enthusiastic crowd greeted the ship, built in the Richmond shipyards, when it returned.

The community excitement over the Red Oak’s restored grandiosity gave rise to its Veterans’ Day rechristening attended by an audience of about 200.

Guests climbed the gangplank to the deck and descended the steel ladders to squeeze into the ship’s former cargo hold that today houses a gift shop and museum.

According to ssredoakvictory.com, the ship was launched Nov. 9, 1944 and saw service in World War II, Korea and Vietnam and has the distinction of being the only ship operated by both military and civilian personnel during her career.

In 1996, by an Act of Congress, title to the SS Red Oak Victory was conveyed to the Richmond Museum Association.

One of the primary goals of the museum is to preserve, restore and develop the Red Oak Victory into a viable asset that can be used, enjoyed and appreciated by the citizens of Richmond and the surrounding Bay Area communities.

Ironically, on the day the SS Red Oak returned to the Richmond port, it passed the USS Iowa Battleship, which was en route to southern California for its own refurbishing.

The USS Iowa was recently acquired by a nonprofit organization, the Pacific Battleship Center, which will reopen the battleship as a museum and memorial anchored in San Pedro, Calif.

Built in New York in 1943, the Iowa saw duty as recently as Operation Desert STorm, but the 45,000-ton battlewagon was decommissioned in 1991 and put into the Mothball Fleet, according to an article in the Contra Costa Times.