SS Jeremiah O'Brien

We had some extra time before our Alcatraz ferry, and this was an excellent way to spend it! It is amazing seeing a WWII ship that is still fully functional and maintained. My son especially enjoyed being able to go into the engine room. Very cool experience. All the staff and volunteers we met were very kind and helpful.

A real working ship! The engine room was my favorite! It had smells that reminded me of my dad’s shop growing up. The engineer said it was the cutting oils that was familiar… all the intricate little pieces… awesome history! We all had a great time going up and down the ladders and stairs! All three or so levels were so interesting… The grandkids like playing with the rotating weapons, pretending they were at war… it helped them talk about WWII and what the world might have been like. Unfortunately, the gift shop was closed that day. Great overall experience!!

Great self guided tour of one of the last (and still fully operational) Liberty ships from the WWII era. Almost all areas of the ship are accessible to view with information plaques around to explain the function of each area. Guides located in the Engine room, museum and ticket booth are available to answer questions with a great knowledge and passion for this well preserved piece of history.

Really cool experience! Completely self guided and you can even go down to the engine room and chat with the engineers and ask questions. We spent about 90 min exploring the ship and walking through the museum on board- really worth the cost!

Me and my father visited this ship three times and every time the staff was lovely, the ship was very nice and the views from the bow are amazing. Not only that but the history and artifacts are very interesting and well preserved. Overall I would visit again.

An awesome piece of history! The volunteers were more than happy to talk about their work and all care immensely about what they are doing. Lots of history to keep adults interested, but there is also plenty of cool things to look at for kids as well. One of the most expansive ship museums where very little was off limits. It's not everyday you get to actually aim a deck gun.

Visited October 2024 the weekend before Fleet Week. Amazing specimen of a bygone era, ran by volunteers, masons and vets. One word of caution: Lots of ladders and steep stairs if you are so inclined to investigate.

I have walked by this exhibit for years and finally spent a Sunday afternoon touring the ship. It is self guided and you can spend as much time as you want. Very interesting for anyone interested in WW2 history. The contribution to the war effort by these Liberty Ships is not very well understood. 2700+ copies of this exact ship were built during the war.

Interesting living history about WW2, located at Pier 35 in San Francisco, open most days from 10:00-5:00. May 18 the O'Brien will be going out for a Seaman's Memorial Cruise. Check the web site for details.

Cool piece of history. This ship was part of D day and the staff are great at sharing stories. You can go on and through the ship to see how they ran things including the engine room. Fun activity for anyone visiting pier 39

For Fleet Week, we got our cruise tickets off Eventbrite $175. This was such a fun experience. The crew and volunteers were friendly and made the ride memorable. I loved the live band and the announcer pointing out the details of the ride and where we were on the bay. There were about 900 people on the boat. It departed at 10am and returned back at 5pm. Upon boarding, there were coffee, donuts, hot chocolate and tea. The lunch service started at around 11am with hot dogs and tacos. The beer and wine ran out at around 2pm. The line for the tacos went almost the length of ship at one point. Good job everyone on SS Jeremiah O'Brien.

The SS Jeremiah O'Brien is one of two remaining fully functional liberty ships of the 2,710 built and launched during WWII. Beyond the normal admission tickets to get onboard, there are fund raising events, usually twice a year, in May and October, where guests can be cruising with the ship for the entire day.

Survived a huge fire! This ship can stand anything thrown it's way. Definitely a must see while visiting this area.

My wife and I went on the 2022 Fleet week cruise. It was a great day trip, unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate and the air space the air shows would be performed was socked in with fog. The ship was really fun, as well as visiting the engine room, and other areas of the ship. The hot dogs were really good as well as the taco bar was a welcome food choice.

Celebrated New Years 2020 on the SS Jeremiah and it has a decent/good view of the fireworks and of the Bay Area! The ship itself has a lot of history and was well maintained. The crew members were also very nice. For the Dance Party Battleship event: - Great location to celebrate the new year (view of the bay + fireworks) but needed more bartenders or beverage stations. - There was also no food being served after 10 pm? Did they run out? - Music + DJs were great! Shout out the DJ TN and DJ Hendrixk.

Greatest Ship Ever ! A must see if you are in the San Fran area. Beautiful art work on the Gunners Mast.

I have always had a great time on the O'Brien. Highly recommend the fleet week cruise!

Husband loves ships so we tour them when on vacation. This one was "ok". Nothing spectacular. $20 per person. Go with you like ships.

Happened to walk by this and got a ticket last minute. What a cool piece of working history. Was able to walk around just about everywhere and it was great. Price was also good so give it a try.

This was a great experience and a very interactive one. You get to climb onto the ship and into different areas that sailors walked through. The engine area where scenes from the movie Titanic happen to be shot is a really impressive area. It's easy to see how hard the work was to keep the boat running. This is truly a place for history buffs AND for those who simply enjoy ships. It is a live working one that is run purely off of passionate volunteers who strive to keep the place living history. A must visit.

This is a very rare remaining liberty ship. Very few people are fully aware of the roles these ships played in World War II. I recommend a tour, especially if you have children or grandchildren whom you can bring. I volunteered on the ship, back when I lived in the Bay Area. I got to cruise around the Bay on her, on several occasions. They had a live band and catered food (nothing fancy,but enjoyable). Great memories!

Had my mom in San Francisco over the weekend to escape the fires up north and we decided to take our minds off the tragedy by being tourists in my own town. We decided to walk down to the pier 39 area and magically stumbled upon the SS Jeremiah O'Brian because I wanted to take a look at the neighboring submarine. Anyway, if you don't know anything about this ship you should definitely make a visit. I won't ruin the whole history but know that this liberty ship is one of two left and this one was actually at the landing of Normandy in World War II!! It's a piece of history that helped turn the tide of the war and it's an incredible feeling being on board. It's a self guided tour and you're able to sit/operate the massive guns on board, visit the operational engine room and many other nooks/crannies. If you're a WWII buff then this is a great spot to feel the history of the greatest generation.

First off the ship is amazing. It's just a honor to see something like this. My biggest gripe and the reason why I'm giving it 1 star is because for $20 a person, I should be able to see the entire ship. There were multiple hallways and floors that I couldn't see because of Covid restrictions. I couldn't even see the engine room! Like seriously such a disappointment.

SO COOL! Seriously. I wasn't planning on visiting this ship (honestly didn't even know it excited) but my mom and were walking through Fisherman's Wharf and stumbled upon it. I was wooed by it's majestic, historical beauty and had to do the tour. I'm a huge history nerd, particularly WW2, so I was excited by the prospect of checking it out and doing some investigating. Definitely worth the $12 entry fee. The "tour" is self guided. Basically you just walk around with some literature they give you and explore on your own. There is very little here that is off limits so it's really about how much time you want to spend and how high you want to go (lots of ladders to climb!). There are crew cabins, captain's quarters, kitchens, dining areas, sick bays, etc etc to check out. All small but packed with artifacts from the time period. The engine room is also a sight to see. FUN FACT! Apparently the filmed scenes from Titanic in there as well! The "crew "are SO friendly and very eager and willing to answer any questions you may have. I'm not sure if everyone gets this but when we were walking off a very lovely volunteer gave us each a sizable book that touched on some of the history of the ship. Pretty darn generous and very very rad.

*SHIP AHOY!!!* It's A Sea-Faring, Steam-Punkin Halloween Party! SITREP It doesn't really get much better than this! Imagine being deep within the hold of an authentic WWII sailing vessel, with giant metal doors, and vast subterranean spaces to have the most-kick Halloween Party you've been too! Well, I didn't have to imagine that! It HAPPENED! But first, a bit more about our wonderful floating venue! HISTORY OF THE O'BRIEN In June 1943 the Liberty Ship S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien slid down the ways at the New England Shipbuilding Corporation in South Portland, Maine. Shortly thereafter she entered service, operated by Grace Line for the War Shipping Administration. Named for the first American to capture a British naval vessel during the Revolutionary War, the O'Brien made seven World War II voyages, ranging from England and Northern Ireland to South America, to India, to Australia. She also made eleven crossings of the English Channel carrying personnel and supplies to the Normandy beaches in support of the D-Day invasion. After the war, she was "mothballed" and laid up in the Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay, north of San Francisco. She has since become a great venue for a lot of wonderful social events & galas, including tonight's party. THE "SALVAGE" (FOR A PARTY!) OPERATION! My lovely friend Ann Vargas - an incredible hostess with the mostess - decided why not host a fun party aboard a SHIP? Ann is the sort of social-genius that finds these wonderful locations to host fun parties - such as the recent Alice-In-Wonderland "UnBirthday Celebration" we celebrated in a mansion on the top of a hill in the East Bay. [In one of her PREVIOUS lives, Ann was no-doubt the Madame of one of the most touted Salons in 18th Century PARIS or 19th Century VIENNA, where the likes of Mozart, Chopin & Liszt would play & entertain the guests, or artists such De La Croix would mesmerize spectators with his wonderful paintings. These are the kinds of events and people in the 21st Century - such as Shawni, X, BLIXA and PARADOX - that Ann brings together!] She got to talking with the good folks responsible for scheduling and maintenance of the Sailing Ship (S.S.) Jeremiah O'Brien @ Pier 45 in Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco and made it happen! THE SET-UP The S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien turned out to be a fantastic venue to host our Saturday Night Halloween Party Spectacular! The ship is permanently moored at Pier 45 and so there were no strict "timing" issues like you "had to be there right at 6pm or you would be left behind!" For our group of friends who lean strongly towards the Steam Punk & Gothic-Industrial music scenes, the environment could not have been more perfect. * Large LARGE SHIP! * Metal Walls & Submarine Doors * Large Open Ball Room to host the Dance Floor and DJ Set-up, along with buffet tables for goodies and the Bar. * Conveniently located SAILOR and SAILORETTE Rest Rooms! * Large POOP DECK in which we could escape the subterranean Ballroom and come up and hang out with the seagulls, catch some fresh air, have a smoke, view the beautiful San Francisco cityscape from a shipside view. We actually got to walk up the gang-plank to get into the ship which was quite the feat if you had issues with a fear of heights or "vertigo". DONATIONS The S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien is part of a historical preservation society and relies upon donations to keep the ship maintained and in good working order for visitors. The donations are regularly $10 per person which can be purchased at the head of PIER 45. THE LOWDOWN A historic ship can make for one FANTASTIC PARTY!

This place is a unique opportunity to get a glimpse into history in a new and different way. The whole ship is a museum. You get to walk through and see the quarters and the sections. Parts of the engine room are open. This ship is just an engineering marvel. Some of the larger areas have displays and dioramas explaining how the ships were built and how they were used in World War II. It is just fascinating and highly educational! It is still active and "living," so some of the quarters are closed off because they are being occupied. That being said, they still let you walk around a very large portion of the ship. It was definitely worth the ticket price and I highly recommend a walk through.

Took the Fleet week tour! Around the bay, under the bridge, park in the bay to watch the air show! Amazing! Volunteers were all friendly, music ( Garbage band) was good, food was good. Views were great. The history is incredible. So awesome that it still putts around the bay a few times a year! This is the second time we have done the tour and plan to do it again - if you get a chance I recommend it. If you can't be there for Fleet Week, just take the tour. History is amazing!

After wandering around pier 39 poking our heads into random shops to try to dodge the rain, we finally found an umbrella and were able to wander down the coast a bit. Looking for something to explore we stumbled upon the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien. The ticket guy (8 bucks a head to get in) sold us our tickets, and told us we were the last people he was going to let in for the day. We gave us the money, he handed us a few brochures, and we hurried onto the ship. The first thing I noticed is the giant naked lady painted on the front of the ship.. awesome :) It wasn't until we got into the ship that we realized that the ticket guy had handed us 8 brochures... all in German... Fortunately we found an English one in one of the holds. We only ran into one worker while wandering around, and one other much older couple. Otherwise, it was like a big play ground/museum. Climbing around from the engine all the way up to the top deck. We learned about the Liberty Ships that were built and sunk during WWII. The one worker we found informed us that the ship is fully functional, and they do a few fund raising trips around the bay. That explained the odd mixing of modern items (suave shampoo bottle in the shower) with the purposely left artifacts from the 40s. As we headed off the ship, we noticed that the gate was closed. It was a fun moment of panic, as we thought we'd been locked into the pier (it has razor wire on top, and extends out over the water). turns out it was just shut, but not locked. got the old heart rate up a bit though. An odd side note is that they have fully functional bathrooms. How many times do you get to use the toilette in a fully functional war ship?

I've got a pretty good reason to love this ship... I was married there! It was an unconventional venue, for sure, but the SS O'Brien staff (Kyle Day in particular) couldn't have been more helpful in making it happen. We had our ceremony on deck right before sunset, and our reception in the #2 cargo hold below. And the cannon turret is SO much fun - the photos produced lots of "shotgun wedding" jokes. Ideal for veterans, history buffs, and anyone looking for an "adult jungle gym" to climb on. I don't recommend this venue for young children unless they are very closely supervised. (We didn't allow children at our wedding for this reason.) The entire ship is metal, with steep narrow staircases. Also, wear comfortable shoes when aboard.

A Fleet Week cruise was $150 and the Shed A parking was full around 10 minutes after boarding started. As we disembarked, the band played the themes for all of the armed forces so that we could clap to acknowledge the many veterans present. Because of the steps for the gangplank they don't recommend flip flops but do wear flat shoes because of all the ropes on deck. Beer, bottled water, and popcorn snacks were included in the ticket price. I spent several hours here, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge twice as part of the Parade of Ships. I wore four layers so I could be warm enough to sleep sitting up. Medical volunteers passed out small bottles of water. My boyfriend and his brother loved the hot engine room tour. The crew is helpful, especially when someone in the band needed a medic. The gift shop machine was out of order. I didn't see any books or teddy bears I liked but the Omaha Beach diorama was great. The inner room also has two military jeeps. The children onboard seemed to enjoy the BBQ lunch and doughnuts. The view of the San Francisco bay area was worth it. There are half a dozen porta-potties that didn't smell.

Great place to bring your kids. The museum is well kept, clean, and lots of friendly employees roaming around. I recommend bringing your kids and getting the tour so that they get enlightened with all the history the tour guides have to offer. I didn't realize how massive these battleships are until I got up close to one. Best battleship museum and probably the only one you'll find in the San Francisco area.

To anyone interested in World War ll history, the Merchant Marine, San Francisco and/or the movie Titanic ( the engine scenes were filmed here), this place is nirvana ! There is access to all parts of the ship- going down the railings to the engine room is a bit like being in the Poseidon Adventure! The history of the Merchant Marines, and their bravery and sacrifices make you long for a time when this country was truly united in a common effort. The volunteers here are truly dedicated and very informative. The tour of the ship is self-guided, and you can take as long as you like-maybe even cozy up to a good book somewhere on deck and drink in the beauty of San Francisco Bay. Would give this place far more than 5 Stars if it were possible.

As an old sailer there is nothing like a cruise on the SS Jeremiah O'Brien. The crew is friendly and helpful people that seem to be enjoying the day. On all of the cruises I have been on, there has been a nice selection of breakfast pastries, coffee, and orange juice to start the cruise. Lunch is served from real hot dog stands. The hot dogs are like hot dogs I remember from childhood from a real meat store. A couple of cruises have had live music. I forget the full name of the band but there called themselves the Sewer Band for short. Their music is wonderful. Seating is provided but a couple of times we have brought bag chairs that are a bit more comfortable. On July 4 the SS Jeremiah O'Brien is an excellent place to watch the fireworks. Now for the negatives, parking $36-$40 per day, maybe more depending on where you park; location, I wish the City of San Francisco would do something to clean up this part of Fishermen's Wharf. If I were a tourist, I would think twice about returning to San Francisco after walking through this place.

We took a special event cruise on board the SS Jeremiah O'Brien for Fleet Week 2016. It was not cheap, but a value for money cruise especially since we got the family package that includes 2 adults + 2 kids, perfect for our family size. It was also a great value considering the time spent onboard (boards at 9am, ends 5pm) + meals (breakfast/lunch/ice-cream/freeflow drinks). We checked other Fleet Week cruises are only about 3 hours onboard. We got on board early, so got ourselves some seating on the back deck. The cruise took us out towards Golden Gate and under the Golden Gate bridge and back again, and stopped between Alcatraz and Bay Bridge for the Fleet Week aerial show viewing for the afternoon. For this cruise, they served Tommy's donuts for breakfast, Annie's Hotdogs for lunch, It's It ice-cream cookie sandwiches for snacks. Free flow of soda and water, even wine and mimosas (with optional donations), and chips. Fed us well. The ship was an interesting floating history. During the cruise, we could roam through most parts. There is a small museum and gift shop below deck, but we found the most interesting location is the engine room visit, where you see all the steam hydraulics in action! You can also visit the steering engine room in the back too. Limited persons allowed on gun deck areas as most people stayed put during the aerial viewing. We also had a great spot for the aeriel shows, close enough to see most of the action. The Blue Angels even flew directly over us a couple of times! Due to the built of the ship, sometimes the view is obtructed by the middle part of the ship's many towers and booms, but it was generally ok. Overall, it was a great, fun day for a cruise and entertainment.

During my random trip to San Francisco during Fourth of July, I had stopped by Fisherman's Wharf. On my walking adventure, there were different exhibits throughout marina. I saw on ship that caught my attention. A volunteer ship that helped during World War II called me. This ship's name is the SS Jeremiah O'Brien. The SS Jeremiah O'Brien is located at Pier 45. It is not too far from where I ate clam chowder at Sabella and Latorre. Admission price to SS Jeremiah O'Brien is $12. Most of the people who work on the ship are volunteers and I suggest you give them a lot of compliments because they do a hard work to keep the ship looking good and more importantly, working. When you board the ship, you are entering becoming part of history. A ship that remains active and helped decide World War II. You will see volunteers paint the ship and even cooking in the mess hall. On the day I was there, there were was a school of cadets on board. I felt like going back to the Maritime Academy re-doing it over again just board classic ships like the SS Jeremiah O'Brien. You can go all levels of the ship from the engine room to the bridge of the ship. You can man the multiple guns or check out the living quarters. The interesting views are definitely from the guns. It will require some climbing ladders. Just take your time going up and down. Sometimes, the guests won't read which ladders to go up or down. Usually, there are two sets just the opposit of each other. There are volunteers and retirees throughout the ship to help you navigate around the SS Jeremiah O'Brien if you get lost. Its a big ship, but in 15-20 minutes you'll know your way around. The one main area that caught my attention was the Engine Room. Apparently, it was used in the movie, Titanic. As I mentioned, this is an active ship and could be used in an emergency. In the movie, Titanic, there is a big engine room that starts moving when it departs and hits full-speed. In fact, its just SS Jeremiah O'Brien's engine room amplified to look huge. Amazing that SS Jeremiah O'Brien is still making history. Its amazing to see ships still active and not just put in a museum and not put to use. This is probably why I chose this ship versus the other exhibits. I volunteer a lot, but who knows, I might get called to help the SS Jeremiah O'Brien on its next journey. Yelp! The One Stop Place For Your Everyday Research!

I went on the Jeremiah O'Brien because of Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day Sat 9/25/10. B. loves boats so we went even though he's been on it a few times, I went pre-Yelp so I had to go back to review it. They have a booth along Pier 45 to buy tickets, but it's was FREE for us with a printout for Museum Day. Regular price is $10 per adult. You have to walk up some steps onto the ship. I noticed some bathrooms, I think it's for anyone to use them, I didn't. I think we spent over 1hr there. Engine Room is the Highlight. Can't bring backpacks - have to put it on the side before you go down. Volunteer guide gave us a short talk about the Engine Room, another volunteer let us see some pipes in a confined locked up space. That was neat. Put in 50c at a machine before the gift shop, and you'll see how an engine model runs. That was nice to see. They have volunteer in the gift shop - there's books. dolls, model of some boats, etc. Might be worth going at least once.

It might be because I'm in the military, or it might be because I currently work in a history department, but I love touring historical war machines. In essence, what you have here is one of the two remaining Liberty ships, built in under 60 days. That's mad impressive when you take it in. You can explore everything fully, and the guns still rotate (you can pretend to sink boats in the harbor!) What really made the experience is that a volunteer veteran from WWII who served on a Liberty ship took my friend and I around on a free tour telling us about his job, where he lived on the ship, specific jobs people had. It's really moving to see someone who served over 50 years ago, STILL having pride and passion about how he served. Giving up years of your life in your youth to fight a war. That's time you'll never get back. Even more, he's still giving back by volunteering his time and he's ~80? Military members get in free, and I enjoyed it enough that I donated the cost of an admission ticket when left

Great staff, wonderful and interesting history! AJ at the gift store was so helpful and friendly! Phil has a lot of stories to tell about the ship! Really great, I'd like to come back to explore some more!

I wondered about this ship for several years before I finally got around to going! It just sits there at Fisherman's Wharf and tries to lure you over with it's overall impressiveness. My boyfriend told me somewhere in the region of 10 times that his grandfather used to live on the boat. So I mean, he had a special connection to it already! When I noticed a Google Offer pop up for admission to none other than the Jeremiah O'Brien, I was all over it. So basically you walk inside the ship and explore at your leisure. There are still some people who live on it (or so it appears) although I'm not sure exactly what they do there. The day we went they had the boilers going and it was HOT down there. Really cool to see though, it reminded me of that scene in Titanic where they're running through all the workers shoveling coal. You can climb upstairs to the top deck and sit behind the guns, and you can stroll from bow to stern (see I know nautical terms!) One of the coolest parts was the "museum" where you can see the evolution of ships over the past several centuries. The main takeaway from that is ships are now freakin HUGE. Anyway, I would definitely recommend a trip here - it's not just a tourist thing, it's fun for locals too. And did you know there's a arcade museum/graveyard right next door? Yeah....

A living, working, tribute to the Sailors, Merchantmen, and builders that helped win the war. If you have not been to this ship, you should go. The cruises are awesome, especially the fleetweek cruise.

WW II history buffs will love this Liberty Ship. It's one of two operational Liberty Ships remaining. (The other one is in Baltimore, MD). The SS Jeremiah O'Brien was salvaged from the moth ball fleet located in Suisun Bay. Liberty Ships were built to transport cargo and as such smaller in size than battleships. I enjoyed touring the ship, and I'm not a WW II buff. Most of the ship is opened to the public. There's a museum in one of the cargo holds and a running documentary DVD. It runs for 45 minutes. Its about Liberty Ships in general, and the project to save the O'Brien. The best part was the steam engine room. Parts of the room was featured in the movie Titanic. The O'Brien can be rented for private events, and it sails out on the SF Bay for special occasions such as Fleet Week. The entire family will enjoy touring the ship.

We toured this ship on our most recent trip to San Francisco (June 2014) while staying at the Argonaut Hotel near Pier 45. As one of only two restored liberty ships from the WWII era, the Jeremiah O'Brien was a great experience for the family to go back in time (1943) and see what sailors lived on and how we made it through the war. To think that it only took 60 days to complete this ship is amazing. We spent 4 hours on this boat exploring every available open area and the kids sat up on the forward and rear guns. This operation ship has a 2500HP steam engine that was featured in the movie "Titanic". The engine room itself is a modern marvel. To see how everything was put together and how America's might and ingenuity came together for our country's need is awe inspiring. It is a great way to see firsthand how liberty ships played a major role in WWII and specifically the allied landing at Omaha Beach in Normandy France through the D-day diorama on display in the Cargo hold. I was very excited to learn the Jeremiah O'Brien has an overnight program for special groups such as the cub/boy scouts with I think has a minimum age and parent to child ration. But I can't wait to get my kids scouting group signed up for this. The boat is maintained by donations and volunteer hours from navy vets constantly painting and restoring this beautiful piece or our country's history. A special THANKS to all of them for what they are doing.Through their efforts and their time explaining how everything worked helped make our visit extremely rewarding. Preserving this ship for future generations has been a great effort by all involved. If you have the opportunity to tour this ship, its great for adults and families. Cheers!

Not sure where the Grand merchant Liberty ship is moored...( since May 2020) however am Certain a visit aboard Jeremiah O'Brien, on the beautiful San Francisco Bay.. should Never Be Missed

We started the self guided your not expecting much. And it was as expected until we ran into volunteer Wilma! She spent 45 min with us! She showed us all around the ship even some exsclusive places aboard all while providing details and interesting tid bits about the Obrien and ships like it. She did a great job and made sure too let us know they are always looking for volunteers and can work with any schedule.

Went with my son and husband for Fleet Week. It was the experience of a life time! Absolutely loved it. If you want to truly explore the ship it will require climbing stairs and A LOT of walking but well worth it. For the less adventurous, you can bring a folding chair and claim a spot. Waiting in line to board the ship I noticed a lot of people with folding chairs and by the time we boarded, most of the spots top to bottom and stem to stern had been claimed. Naturally, we did not think to bring a chair. Not to worry. There are places to sit on deck, people get up to move around and they open up-plus most of the chair people folded up to move around too. At the top of the ship, some people claimed with their chairs a large prime spot at the top of the ladder.. We pretty much stayed next to the ship's wheel at the top and those chair people never showed up the entire time we were there...what was the point in all that view-blocking and spot-claiming? LOL! All that to say, we had a great time. They even allowed my son to actually steer the boat with the big Captain's wheel while the Captain stood next to him! He steered for at least five minutes. Talk about a once-in-a-lifetime experience! Bring sun glasses and sunblock even if you think you won't need them. Fleet week took us under the Golden Gate Bridge and back around to go under the Bay Bridge. It was under construction at the time and the view was amazing. Family friendly, affordable souvenirs, great crew! 10 Stars! And thank you to all the brave servicemen and women who fought to keep this country safe and for all those who continue to serve our country.

Went on the cruise for Fleet Week. The cruise leaves at 10 and returns at 5:00. It goes under the Golden Gate bridge and then around to the Bay bridge. You board the ship at 9:00. There are limited chairs for sitting and everything is in full sun. They serve coffee, doughnuts, muffins, orange juice, and water for breakfast. Lunch is a foot long hot dog, chips and ice cream. Beer, wine and sodas are provided. There is a band but can only be heard at the front of the ship. No speakers at the back section. The gift shop, museum and engine room are open during the cruise. Volunteers run everything. The ship is in the Bay for the airshow. It's a great place to watch the Blue Angels and other acrobatic pilots. They have commentary during the airshow but the speakers kept going out. Every thing was fine except parking in shed A. Do not park there for the Fleet Week cruise. It took over 2 hours to get out of the lot. The attendant had to take everyone's paid ticket and leave the gate open since they only give you fifteen minutes to exit. There is no one directing traffic getting out of this garage. Hundreds of cars waiting hours to get out is ridiculous. The SFPD made this worse by not stopping traffic so cars could exit the garage Take bart and walk or the f line. Just skip this event if you need to drive. The parking nightmare made this nice event terrible. The two stars is because of the parking nightmare. The cruise itself was four stars

If you're a maritime geek, you'll love taking a tour of this ship. Out of the (I believe) 2,700-ish liberty ships built in WWII, this is one of only two remaining in seaworthy condition -- and the ONLY one that remains largely unchanged. Most ships tours severely restrict your access. Not so here. You're free to tour the vast majority of the ship at your leisure. Want to see an engine room and boiler in operation? Drop by on the 3rd weekend of the month, when they fire the boilers up and turn the screw at dead slow while docked to keep everything lubricated. They're more than happy to have you in the engine room while they work. Even better -- head out of port with them on one of their several-times-yearly cruises. I did this over the last weekend... a six-hour memorial cruise that took us from pier 45, out past the Golden Gate bridge for a memorial service, then back across the bay and down the Alameda estuary and finally back to pier 45. The trip included a "continental breakfast" (chuckle -- coffee and doughnuts), and a pretty darn tasty catered lunch... including all the beer, wine or soda you felt like drinking. The docents and crew were really marvelous and knowledgeable and happy to entertain any questions I had. It was a real treat to stand on the fair weather bridge and watch the captain and bay pilot operate the ship. I wholeheartedly recommend both the docked-tour and the bay cruises they offer. You won't be disappointed.

Completely self guided tour of almost 95% of the ship. The guides are really very knowledgeable and the displays are very educational. Well worth the ticket price. There are restrooms on board - they don't advertise it but it's wonderful especially if you tour the submarine first then roll right to the O'Brien. Plan on easily an hour for this but could spend more. The gift shop left a lot to be desired but overall 5 stars!

A great submarine and good place to take your child to learn the history of this vessel

When I was in mgmt. w/ SF Muni Railway, I had the machine shop make a new jacking gear for the O'Brien. The old one was worn out. And Have often taken young folks aboard on wknds when they run the engine and take them down into the engine space so they can see those huge old connecting rods slowly moving up & down. They were filmed and used in the last movie about the Titanic. We need another generation of volunteers to learn how to keep her running from the folks doing it now. A well-maintained and well-run relic of WWII. Keith Davis

A friend of mine had his 30th birthday bash on this battleship -- talk about doing it big!! Okay, so it's not really a battleship -- it's a liberty ship, which means it was a cargo ship built during WW2 -- but telling people that you're going to a party on a battleship just sounds a lot cooler. ;) Located between Piers 43 1/2 and 47, you would never suspect a warship to be docked in the middle of Fisherman's Wharf. We must have asked 5 people for directions, and no one had a clue. Luckily, we spotted a friend who was hanging outside the pier to wait for his motion sickness medication to kick in. Yes, there is a very slight sway you'll feel inside. Just keep drinking and you'll just think it's the booze. What a unique spot to have a party! Although the ship is available to rent for cruise parties, the one we were at was a moored event. It was nice to be able to come and go as you pleased, though it would have been amazing to cruise along the bay in a huge warship. The event space was below the docks, and there was a large dance floor and nice bar area. While it would get stuffy down below, you could easily cool off by going up on the deck and look out onto the gorgeous bay. The ship goes on cruises about 6 times a year. The one coming up is next weekend during Fleet Week. For $150, you can watch the Blue Angels from the deck, enjoy breakfast and a BBQ lunch and be entertained by a live jazz band. There's a lot of history to be learned from the tour you can take during the week. I don't remember why Jessica and I were talking about Titanic the other day, but we were both saying how much we loved the movie. You know you liked it too. An interesting factoid for movie buffs (Titanic fans): "Many interiors, sounds and visuals for Titanic were captured aboard the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien, including her fully-operational triple expansion marine steam engine, which provided the dramatic massive and churning metallic parts of the famed White Star liner's engine room. A wide range of Jeremiah O'Brien Academy Award-winning sound effects were also captured for Titanic, including metallic door closes, hatch openings, distant engine rumbles (which run throughout the film, to give the sense of movement), bells, clangs, etc. The O'Brien also was taken out into San Francisco Bay so Cameron's sound team from Skywalker Sound could capture a tremendous variety of bow wash, mid-side wash, propeller wake, hull laps, and other water movement sounds, which occupy much of the movie's first 11 reels before Titanic 's iceberg collision. The O'Brien's crew even threw the engines into full-reverse about 20 times, simulating the climactic iceberg collision moment, which provided a wealth of creaks, groans, distant rumbles, perspective shifts, and countless backgrounds used to re-create the factory-like ambience of the steerage compartment."

Took my kids here and was lucky enough to show up on a day when they were running the engines. I think they run them one day a month and on that day they let you go down and tour the engine room where the volunteers are fine tuning the machinery. It was impressive to say the least and the volunteers were more than happy to answer all our questions. They also have an amazing model of Normandy that was a great tool for helping educate our kids on WWII.

what a great experience. Fun for the whole family. JIM SULLIVAN

The SS Jeremiah O'Brien is a must see historic attraction when visiting San Francisco. Climbing down the rungs to the engine room where the Titanic was filmed is an adventure in itself. That's only a fraction of what there is to enjoy aboard this WWII Liberty Ship. It's a self-guided tour so you get to explore like an adventurer. Stories unfold with the push of a button throughout the journey and knowledgeable volunteers love to chat with you. I've been aboard a few times and it's a joy to watch kids in utter amazement every step of the way.

I took a Lighthouses of San Francisco Bay cruise on the SS Jeremiah O'Brien. Boarding began at 9 am, and we were supposed to set sail at 10 am. But for some reason we left the dock half an hour late. The ship needed an assist from a huge tugboat to leave the dock. We got a good look at the Alcatraz Lighthouse as we passed by Alcatraz Island, as we did for the Yerba Buena Lighthouse. After that, I was disappointed. We didn't get very close to the Angel Island Lighthouse. We also didn't get anywhere near Point Bonita to see that lighthouse up close, I could just spot it off in the distance before we turned around. I really wanted a close-up view of what was left of the Mile Rocks Lighthouse. But since we did not sail very far north, the base was just a small dot off in the distance. I had to use the telephoto lens on my camera to get a better view of it. For breakfast, we were served donuts with either coffee or orange juice. Hot dogs (I think they were Annie's Hot Dogs), chips, and ice cream were on the menu for lunch. Needless to say, I did not go on this cruise for the food. One nice thing about taking a cruise on the SS Jeremiah O'Brien is that you have access to areas of the ship which are normally off limits. I was able to climb up into the front gun tub and walk up to the bow of the ship. Once the ship returned to the dock, the bow and front gun tub were roped off. Make sure to visit the engine room in the bowels of the ship. But be careful, there are many hot surfaces down there. We didn't look at the exhibits until the cruise was over. By that time everyone had disembarked and only a few tourists were boarding, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves.

Great piece of floating history AND it's fully restored. Once or twice a year you can buy tickets for a trip out the gate powered by the O'Brien's triple expansion steam engines. Except for the Red Oak in Richmond currently being restored, it is the last of it's kind on West Coast. It you are partial to naval war history with a hearing for a real hands on experience this is the ship for you. AND tied up just ahead of the O'Brien is the fully restored Gato class submarine open for tour. For obvious safety reasons no cruising tickets are offered....I refer you to the scene in the submarine movie U-571 where the captain of the marines boarding the sub asks the XO "how deep can this boat go" XO "Straight to the bottom, but we try to prevent that"

My Mom and I loved the experience.. and it wasn't until after the trip that I found out my dear Uncle Gil came home from the war in Europe on this ship!

Quick history. The O'Brien is a Merchant Marine Naval Vessel. It served in getting cargo, supplies and men to Britian and was instumental part in D-Day and further supplying the European campaing in WWII. It is now run by volunteers with many having a first hand realtionship of her service. See the website for more history. The O'Brien make a few bay cruises during the year, but one cruise is up to Sacramento. The ship is also open as a museum. This cruise covered 57 nautical miles. It is not a fast one mind you. Taking about 9 hours depending on conditions. It is a living history cruise. You get a chance to experience life on the ship. It is also a chance to learn about the history that this waterway and area played for naval and military forces. It also covers the business overtime that operated on this routeand the cities that exist from all this. You will pass many exciting and beautiful places. A few highlights are, Alcatraz, Immigration processing buildings, Mare island, various pumping stations, whale processing plant, 7 bridges to cross under and the East Brothers B&B(www.ebls.org). The trip itself is about 9 hours. This is a military ship so don't expect a great deal of comfort. I'd bring you're own fold up seat. Food and beverage is provided and part of ticket price. Music is played during the trip. Natural Gas was the band on my trip. The museum is in hold 2 and hold 1 is the gift shop and also recreation on stowing equipment and a D-Day diarama. There are many places to sit on the ship on benches, soft cafeteria seats or those you bring, Parts of the ship are closed for crew only. getting around keep you eyes open. Big ship with little room to walk and easy to bump something hard. This they tell you when you board. The food. Upon boarding, there are doughnuts, muffins, coffee(available all trip), orange juice. Lunch and snack provided by CB Hanegans. I love the Los Gatos place. Lunch was BBQ pork and tri-tip, salad, fruit, cookies and some really good garlic bread. Me A you'd like. I had way too much and the othe 375 passangers also seemed to keep going back. There was a snack later with pork ribs and same veggie offerings. Beverages for the cruise was water, soda, coffee, beer and wine. Tip the bartenders and make a few other donations around the ship. This trip also had hot coca because it decided to rain all day and pretty hard. So this may have caused me to drop to three stars. The rain and just enough covering in ships nooks and crannies seemed to ware on people. There was an hourly trivia question, band, author John Garvey speaking about WWII and SF, and this trips highlight, the engine room. This area ship goes from deck to keel. As you decend, as most are, the narrow ladders. You get to feel the heat from the steam engines. The smell of lubrication. Gladly heat rises and working at the bottom isn't so hot, but loud. This is where a person adjusts the speed called from the captain. Fun to watch the cranks work. The captain worked from the flying bridge so he was also out in the elements. Overall this trip is fun. Cruising is not abou speed. Weather this day took away from the enjoyment. The food was good. The crew was friendly and had stories. The passangers varied in age. The ship requires you to pay attention to where you are walking and curteous on passing each other. The food was good and served very well give the rain and under tents. It fed the 375 people quickly also. The free beverages helped the trip, Beer is from ships home port. I took advantage of my rain gear and elements to get pictures that i might not have gotten. I also took advantage of the protecive pipe beam on deck and the only tent open offering a bit of room. Short arms length for a beverage. Worth the trip. There is a return trip on Sunday, but I prefered coming back by busses provided free. Trip back 1.5 hours.