And We're Building a Navy Base in Nebraska While We're At It

The last vessel in operation from the Battle of Pearl Harbor is going to a museum in one of the most unlikely places -- North Little Rock, Arkansas. Hoga will be turned over to a museum there.

Hoga was a harbor tugboat that entered service on May 22, 1941. She saved several ships during the attack on December 7 later that year, helped fight fires aboard USS Arizona, pushed USS Nevada aground preventing her from sinking and blocking the channel to the open sea, and rescued USS Oglala and USS Vestal from fire.

After WWII, Hoga served as a firefighting tug in San Francisco Bay for 45 years under her new name: City of Oakland (left).

She was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989. When struck from the Naval Vessel Register in 1996, Hoga was the last remaining ship that saw action on "the day that will live in infamy."

Why she's winding up in North Little Rock, Arkansas is anyone's guess.

From my Arkansas History classes as a 7th grader at Sulphur Rock High, the closest ties appear to be the fact that Arkansas was home to Japanese-American relocation camps during WWII -- the most famous resident being George Takei (Star Trek's "Mr Sulu").

Or the fact that USS Arkansas was one of only three US battleships still in service after Pearl Harbor. She, along with USS Texas and USS New York were in the Atlantic at the time. USS Arkansas ran up an impressive record in both World Wars and was finally sunk with an atomic bomb. (DoD)