USS Nokomis ( YT - 142 ) USS " Nokomis " ( YT - 142 / YTB - 142 / YTM - 142 ) was a Woban - class harbor tug built in Bremerton , Wash , and assigned to Pearl Harbor , Hawaii , in 1940 . " Nokomis " was present during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , December 7 , 1941 . She was the first vessel on scene at the USS Arizona , and was called off by the officers on deck because of the imminent explosion of the battery below deck . It then left and helped beach the USS Nevada , with the USS Hoga , and the YT - 153 . The beaching of the Nevada saved Pearl Harbor ' s mouth from being blocked . After that the USS Nokomis fought fires and dewatered the battleship USS California , for 3 days . This effort made the California salvagable , to be recommissioned again later in the war . Nokomis was also the last vessel to move the surviving Yc - 699 barge prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor . Post - war she continued serving Pearl Harbor ships until she was decommissioned in May 1973 , and eventually sold for " scrap " to Crowley , in San Frencisco . She was renamed Sea Serpent and served many tears in the San Francisco Bay as a tug and fire boat . In 1989 , after the Loma Prieta earthquake in the SF Bay area , Nokomisand Hoga fought fires alongside each other again . Built in Bremerton , Washington . " Nokomis " ( YT – 142 ) , a diesel electric tug , was built at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard , Bremerton , Washington ; launched 29 November 1939 ; completed in March 1940 ; and allocated to the 14th Naval District for duty . World War II service . Upon arrival Pearl Harbor , " Nokomis " assumed the duty of providing towing and berthing services , and was available for waterfront fire protection and inner harbor security . Post - war service . Reclassified YTB – 142 , in 1944 , she has remained active as a service craft based at Pearl Harbor into the 1970s . Final decommissioning . Nokomis was decommissioned and was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in May 1973 and sold in April 1975 . Current status . According to the Historic Tugboat Education and Restoration Society , the Nokomis was purchased in April 1975 by Crowley Maritime Corporation , and her name was changed to Sea Serpent . She was operated in the San Francisco Bay as a commercial tugboat to assist docking vessels . The company terminated their operations in the San Francisco area in the early 1990 ' s and the Nokomis was reflagged Panamanian and abandoned with many other tug boats , to decay and rust . She was rediscovered in March 1999 , in the mudflats of Hunters Point , San Francisco , by Tugboat Master Melissa Parker . She was purchased at an auction for $ 50 for the Historic Tugboat Education and Restoration Society . The 501 ( c ) 3 educational non - profit worked on historical research , practical engineering educational programs for underprivledged youth in the Bay Area , and cooperative programs between historical ship organizations in the SF Bay , and beyond ; until the economical realities of the late 2000 decade cost the Historic Tugboat Education and Restoration Society its vessels ; USS Nokomis and USS Wenonah . Both vessels were cut up in 2009 . Wenonah was an identical sister to the USS Hoga . She would have been a great resource of partsto restore her . Nokomis was tge oldest surviving naval vessel from the attack on Pearl Harbor . The Yc - 699 barge on the SF Bay and the YT - 153 on the east coast , with the Hoga , are now the last remaining Naval Pearl Harbor surviving vessels .