Linking a renowned family legacy to San Pedro’s historic World War II battleship, Hall Delano Roosevelt II, 32, has been tapped to head up sales and marketing for the Pacific Battleship Center and the battleship USS Iowa, which famously carried his great-grandfather President Franklin D. Roosevelt to attend the Tehran Conference in 1943.

Hall Delano Roosevelt II, previously president of operations at the Orange County public relations agency KComm, will head up a communications team that will drive a variety of programs, including admissions, events, military and veterans affairs, education programs and youth field trips.

The ship, he said, “is so much more than a museum.”

“We have educational programs, community programs,” he said, “and right now, we’re playing a big role in the L.A. fires when it comes to first responders.”

A benefit concert pier-side next to the Iowa, “Rock for Responders,” is planned for Feb. 27.

Hall Delano Roosevelt II brings more than just a historic name and family background to his new role, said Jonathan Williams, president and CEO of the Pacific Battleship Center.

“Hall’s addition to our crew is both energizing and exciting on a number of levels,” Williams said. “Not only does he bring an extraordinary breadth of expertise and experience to our team, but he brings with him a uniquely special family legacy that gives him an added level of enthusiasm for our mission that virtually nobody else can provide.”

In his decade working in public relations, Hall Delano Roosevelt II focused on marketing strategy, social media, advertising, graphic design, public relations and event planning, working with more than 100 brands, from startups to enterprise organizations. He also served as general manager for the Internet Marketing Association, overseeing business operations and managing the production of more than 10 major marketing conferences in multiple countries and dozens of smaller signature events.

“My great-grandfather, Franklin D. Roosevelt, first rode on this ship in 1943,” Hall Delano Roosevelt II said. “Nearly 70 years later, I attended the grand opening of the Pacific Battleship Center with my family on July 4, 2012, where I learned about the ship and toured her for the first time.”

Among the tourist highlights on board the vessel, which is nicknamed the Battleship of Presidents, are the private quarters and a bathtub, created for Franklin D. Roosevelt as he traveled as president to Iran for the Tehran Conference in late 1943, when he met with U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Union Premier Josef Stalin to coordinate military strategy against Germany and Japan.

With the Iowa now also designated the National Museum of the Surface Navy and hosting major tourist draws, such as L.A. Fleet Week every Memorial Day weekend, the floating World War II attraction at 200 S. Harbor Blvd. will see a major shoreside development that will include a 35,000-square-foot Freedom of the Seas Park and Pavilion, complete with walkways, plazas, memorials and a multipurpose building for gatherings and events.

Preparations are already underway for this year’s L.A. Fleet Week, an event that draws tens of thousands of visitors for a three-day celebration of the Navy and all of the nation’s armed services, Hall Delano Roosevelt II said.

Also coming up is the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, on July 4, 2026.

“Since it opened in 2012,” Hall Delano Roosevelt II said of the ship, “it’s been an iconic and historical point of interest.”

It’s also helped spark new interest in San Pedro’s waterfront as an overall tourist destination.

Visitors on ship tours, he said, “come for different reasons,” with the majority of guests made up of families and young adults.

Historic war ships aren’t cheap to maintain. A vessel floating in the ocean, after all, requires continual maintenance and repairs.

“Water is not a friendly place to be,” Hall Delano Roosevelt II said.

So the ship replies on year-round fundraising efforts, along with creative ideas on how to bring events and people on board with new exhibits, celebrations, educational and patriotic gatherings, and innovative tourist attractions.

The history lessons the ship provides are invaluable for many.

“It’s a way to connect with the past, especially for people who didn’t grow up during World War II,” Hall Delano Roosevelt II said. “They don’t have that same physical connection that maybe my parents of their parents had.”

But the ship, he said, is also a “hub for veterans who come back and almost relive or reconnect with their experiences.”

While growing up in a historic family was “very unique,” Hall Delano Roosevelt II said, he had “a pretty common, middle class upbringing,” walking to school, playing Little League and being raised by parents who worked full time.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in international business with a minor in marketing from Griffith University’s Gold Coast campus, in Queensland, Australia, and lives with his wife and their goldendoodle in Long Beach.

Hall Delano Roosevelt II said his name often draws second looks and “head turns.”

Also not uncommon an experience for him is being approached by “a veteran or somebody who lived through the war and post-generations,” he said.

“They express gratitude toward my family,” he added, “how my ancestors made such an impact in their lives.”