After decommissioning, "Fir" remained in Seattle, Washington for many years while efforts were made to turn her into a floating museum. When these efforts failed, she was transferred to the United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) facility, Suisun Bay, California, in 1997. Her shafts and rudder locked, she was towed 930 miles by to San Francisco's Golden Gate where she was met by a commercial tug that towed her the rest of the way to Suisun Bay. Significant objects were removed from the vessel and stored at a U.S. Coast Guard facility in Forestville, Maryland.