Rosies & The Red Oak Victory Revival

Rennae Ross knew how to fix the rusted-out gunnery platform.

Ross, a Local 549 Boilermaker, thought this as she toured the SS Red Oak Victory—the last surviving vessel out of 747 World War II ships built at Kaiser Shipyard in Richmond, California.

Now berthed as a floating history museum not far from where she was built, the SS Red Oak shows her age in weathered wood and tarnish. Volunteers do their best to keep up with repairs. But on her bow, the gunnery foredeck was off limits to visitors like Ross—a spot that would otherwise provide a fantastic vantage of San Francisco Bay and the perfect photo perch for history-loving tourists and visiting veterans. Rust had gobbled massive, jagged holes in the deck plate, making it unsafe.

But Ross knew how to fix it. Read the full article.

When I learned Boilermaker women were leading a restoration push on the SS Red Oak Victory, I grabbed at the chance to tell their story. I spent several days filming, taking photos, and interviewing the women and others at work – and during a media day honoring Rosie the Riveter Trust’s 25th Anniversary. My colleague Chuck Smith assisted with video, as we both ran around the massive ship, so some footage is his. I wrote a full feature magazine story (cover photography is my work), which served as the storyboard for a final video/film on the project. The final film was produced by Wide Awake Films under my direction.

…and between publishing the magazine article and holding the video to debut at the organization’s convention, I kept the story going with social media lifts. No surprise, their work caught national media attention. It was a rare occasion in which I included myself in the story and used my personal social media in the mix.