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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

Wa'a Hele Honua (YFB-83)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
National Defense Service Medal

YFB-83 Class Ferry Boat

Built by John Mathis Co., Camden, NJ (YN 180)

Laid down, date unknown

Launched, 26 January 1949

Completed for Norfolk County Ferries, Portsmouth, VA, as the ferryboat City of Portsmouth (ON 257512), April 1949

Sold to Delaware River Ferry Co., Camden, NJ, renamed Delaware Valley, 1955

Purchased by Navy for $274,000, 1959

Towed from Panama to Hawaii by Arikara (ATF-98), November - December 1960

Placed in service as Wa'a Hele Honua (YFB-83), 03 March 1961

Wa'a Hele Honua (YFB-83) was assigned to Naval Station Pearl Harbor

Placed out of service on completion of Admiral Clarey Bridge, 1998

Struck from the Naval Register, 25 June 1999

Sold by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service, for conversion or reuse, 05 February 2003

In use as undocumented barge by Billeter Marine LLC, Coos Bay, OR, as of 2020

Specifications:
Displacement 390 tons (lt) 500 tons (fl)
Length 172' 5" waterline, 180' 0" overall
Beam 46'
Draft 11'
Speed unknown
Accommodations

Officers 2

Enlisted 14

Load Capacity

vehicles 35

passengers 500
Armament none
Propulsion

two Caterpillar Model D 3508 main Diesel engines

Farrel main reduction gears

General Electric aux generator, type CDM 11294, 120V DC

two propellers, 800hp

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Contributed By
1435008301	66k	Artist drawing of Wa'a Hele Honua (YFB-83)	Tommy Trampp
LOC item # hi0648.365739p	110k	Wa'a Hele Honua (YFB-83) and Moko Holo Hele (YFB-87) docked off Hornet Ave., Pearl City, HI., date unknown. Library of Congress item # hi0648.365739p. Photo by David Franzen.	David Wright
LOC item # hi0648.365740p	93k	Exterior and interior views of Wa'a Hele Honua (YFB-83) docked off Hornet Ave., Pearl City, HI, date unknown. YFB-83, was the oldest of the two vehicle and passenger transport ferries last in service in Hawaii, representative of the ferries used at Pearl Harbor in an era when such vessels were the major mode of transportation between Ford Island and the main base portion of the installation. This era lasted until 1998, when the Admiral Clarey Bridge made the ferries obsolete as a form of transportation to the island. Photos by David Franzen.	David Wright
LOC item # hi0648.365741p	105k
LOC item # hi0648.365742p	103k
LOC item # hi0648.365743p	81k
LOC item # hi0648.365744p	106k
LOC item # hi0648.365745p	99k
LOC item # hi0648.365746p	94k
LOC item # hi0648.365747p	125k
1435008311	166k	The former Wa'a Hele Honua (YFB-83) in use as a barge at Billeter Marine's facility, Coos Bay, OR, 20 October 2020. Photo copyright Kyle Stubbs.	Kyle Stubbs