PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - As every red-blooded Portlander knows, we’ll always be safe from naval attacks here in the Rose City because we have our own submarine.
The USS Blueback makes its home at OMSI along the east bank of the Willamette River, ready to torpedo any seaborne, er, riverborne assaults at a moment’s notice.
Well, maybe more than a moment’s notice, given that the Blueback is a static display and hasn’t been to sea in more than 20 years. It might take a while to convert it back into a fighting vessel.
But while you probably know about the Blueback, what you may not know is that we also used to have our own battleship, too.
In fact, it was anchored just across the Willamette from where the Blueback now sits.
From June 1925 - 90 years ago - to 1942, the USS Oregon, which distinguished itself in the Spanish-American War and then came out of mothballs for a while during World War I, was on display in the Willamette - first near the east end of the Broadway Bridge and later in the “bowl” area just south of the west end of the Hawthorne Bridge.
Where fans of the annual Waterfront Blues Festival now stand to listen to music every Fourth of July, tourists and others used to queue up for tours of the Oregon, which was completed in 1893 and commissioned in 1896.
The Oregon first went to war in 1898 and, according to the Oregon Encyclopedia, distinguished itself in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba, where the U.S. defeated Spain.
The ship was decommissioned in 1903 but then made a brief comeback as a reserve vessel during World War I. Following WWI, it was decommissioned for good and came to Portland after the state asked the federal government if it could be a memorial in Portland.
It served in that role until shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, when the federal government decided it was worth more as scrap metal. It was then partly scrapped but eventually towed to Guam, where it was used for ammunition storage.
It was finally scrapped for good in the 1950s.
Today, little remains of the USS Oregon, but the ship’s mast and bow plate are on display in Tom McCall Waterfront Park between the Morrison and Burnside Bridges. There, according to the Oregon Encyclopedia, they “recognize all who fought and died in the Spanish-American War and the contribution the U.S.S. Oregon made in its victory.”
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The original story can be found on The Oregonian’s website: https://bit.ly/1zMwvl1
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Information from: The Oregonian, https://www.oregonlive.com
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