USS Potomac (yacht) --World War II in the San Francisco Bay Area: A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary: "The USS Potomac was built in 1934 as the Coast Guard cutter Electra. The 165-foot vessel, weighing 376 gross tons and cruising at speeds of 10 to 13 knots, was commissioned as a U.S. Navy vessel in 1936. It was renamed the USS Potomac and served as Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidential yacht until his death in 1945."