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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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Presidential Visits to Naval Ships

This list includes ship visits by presidents, during their terms as president, presently known to the Ships History Branch. There have undoubtedly been others; any additional information would be appreciated. Commissioned presidential yachts are included though these were not, strictly speaking, "visits to Navy ships" since these yachts were not part of the operating forces. The yacht Sequoia is listed under F.D. Roosevelt only, the only period during which she was in commission. Small craft, such as the motor boats used by a number of presidents after World War II, are not included. Individual ship histories are included in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. 
John Tyler (1841-45)           Steam sloop Princeton (1844)

Franklin Pierce (1853-57)      Steam frigate Wabash (1856)

William McKinley (1897-1901)   Yacht Sylph (1898-1901)

Theodore Roosevelt (1901-09)   Yacht Sylph (1901-09)
                               Battleship Illinois (1902)
                               Yacht Mayflower (1905-09)
                               Submarine Plunger (1905)
                               Battleship Louisiana (1906)
                               Battleship Connecticut (1907; 1909)
                               Battleship Mississippi (1907)

William H. Taft (1909-13)      Yacht Sylph (1909-13)
                               Yacht Mayflower (1909-13)
                               Battleship Arkansas (1912)

Woodrow Wilson (1913-21)       Yacht Sylph (1913-210
                               Yacht Mayflower (1913-21)
                               Transport George Washington (1919)

Warren G. Harding (1921-23)    Yacht Mayflower (1921-23)

Calvin Coolidge (1923-29)      Yacht Mayflower (1923-29)
                               Battleship Utah (1928)
                               Battleship Texas (1928)

Herbert C. Hoover (1929-33)    Battleship Maryland (1928-29)
                               Battleship Utah (1928-29)
                               Battleship Arizona (1931)

F. D. Roosevelt (1933-45)      Yacht Sequoia (1933-36)
                               Cruiser Houston (1934; 1935; 1938; 1939)
                               Yacht Potomac (1936-45)
                               Cruiser Indianapolis (1933; 1936)
                               Destroyer Phelps (1937)
                               Cruiser Philadelphia (1938)
                               Cruiser Tuscaloosa (1939, 1940)
                               Cruiser Augusta (1941)
                               British battleship Prince of Wales(1941)
                               Battleship Iowa (1943)
                               Cruiser Memphis (1943)
                               Cruiser Baltimore (1944)
                               Destroyer Cummings (1944)
                               Cruiser Quincy (1945)

Harry S. Truman (1945-53)      Yacht Williamsburg (1945-52)
                               Cruiser Augusta (1945)
                               Battleship Missouri (1945, 1947)
                               Destroyer Lansdowne (1945)
                               Submarine U-2513 (1946)
                               not yet identified (1946-47)

Dwight D.Eisenhower (1953-61)  Yacht Williamsburg (1953)
                               Carrier Saratoga (1957)
                               Submarine Seawolf (1957)
                               Cruiser Des Moines (1959)
                               Cruiser Saint Paul (1960)
                               Submarine (unidentified)
                               Submarine Patrick Henry (year?)

John F. Kennedy (1961-63)      Destroyer Joseph P Kennedy Jr (1962)
                               Coast Guard training ship Eagle (1962)
                               Submarine Chopper (1962)
                               Submarine Thomas A. Edison (1963)
                               Missile test ship Observation Island 1963)
                               Carrier Kitty Hawk (1963)
                               Carrier Oriskany (1963)

Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-69)    Carrier Enterprise (1967)

Richard M. Nixon (1969-74)     Carrier Hornet (1969)

James E. Carter (1977-81)      Submarine Los Angeles (1977)
                               Carrier Dwight D Eisenhower (1978)

Ronald Reagan (1981-89)        Carrier Constellation (1981)
                               Battleship New Jersey (1982)
                               Battleship Iowa (1986)

George H. W. Bush (1989-92)    Carrier Forrestal (1989)
                               Guided Missile Cruiser Belknap (1991)

William J. Clinton (1992-2001) Carrier Carl Vinson (1993; 1995)
                               Carrier George Washington (1994)
                               Carrier Independence (1996)
                               Carrier Harry S. Truman (1998)
                               Guided Missile Cruiser (AEGIS) Hue City (2000)
                               
George W. Bush (2001-    )     Carrier Abraham Lincoln (2003)

 

30 June 2003