By Kathy Chouteau
The Red Oak Victory has gone viral! Well, not yet, but it might with the upcoming visit of two maritime history YouTubers on board: Ryan Szimanski, curator of the USS New Jersey and host of Battleship New Jersey, and Alex Pocklington, host of Drachinifel from the jolly old UK.
The YouTubers will appear aboard the Red Oak Victory Saturday, March 21 at 6 p.m. (doors open) to speak about the history of shipyards and shipbuilding during World War II. The ship is docked on the historic Richmond Home Front.
Szimanski, who has a following of 284,000 subscribers on YouTube, and Pocklington, with 580,000, “are both engaging speakers and very knowledgeable about all things related to maritime history,” according to the Red Oak Victory crew.
The YouTubers will speak in Hold No. 3, also known as the ship’s movie theatre, according to Fred Klink, director of marketing for the Red Oak Victory. Beer and wine will be available for purchase, as well as snacks and soft drinks. Reservations aren’t required, and there’s no admission charge, but a $10 donation per person is appreciated by the all-volunteer ship.
Klink shared with the Standard, “Ryan visited Red Oak Victory in 2023 and did seven videos for the Battleship New Jersey YouTube channel. Those videos in total were viewed nearly a half-a-million times and I think it’s safe to say that tens of thousands of those viewers heard about Red Oak Victory for the first time.”
Klink underscored that with two of YouTube’s top maritime content generators visiting the ship, their videos could generate a total of a million views and perhaps 100,000 or more new people learning about the Red Oak Victory. “The more people who know about us, the more visitors we see, and the more donations that come in.” Quite a valuable opportunity for the historic museum ship.
The Red Oak Victory is a historic World War II ship berthed in the Port of Richmond, CA. It’s the last surviving ship built in the Kaiser-Richmond shipyards during World War II. The historic ship is operated as a museum by the Richmond Museum Association and is located at 1337 Canal Blvd., Berth 5, in Richmond.