Tug Of War

The USS Hoga did heroic duty during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, fighting oil-fed fires, maneuvering ships to safer locations and picking up survivors. The 100-foot tugboat is mothballed in San Francisco Bay after spending 40 years fighting fires for the city of Oakland. The Hoga - the Sioux word for fish - was retired in 1989. The tug is considered inactive by the Navy, which wants to scrap it. There is interest in saving it, but no firm offers. A 1995 effort to raise $500,000 to return it to Hawaii and fix it up came up short. The Navy League’s Fort Lauderdale, Fla., chapter would like it for a floating World War II memorial. The Walt Disney Co. has expressed interest in it for a proposed $145 million movie about the attack. No one, however, has formally applied to the Navy’s Ships Donation Office.