The first USS Manatee (SP-51) was an armed motorboat that served as a United States Navy patrol vessel from 1917 until sometime shortly after World War I.
.jpg) Manatee in private prewar service
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USS Manatee |
| Namesake | Previous name retained |
| Builder | Graves Yacht Yard, Marblehead, Massachusetts |
| Completed | 1915 |
| Acquired | 21 April 1917 |
| Commissioned | 23 April 1917 |
| Stricken | By 1 July 1920 |
| Notes | In private use as motorboat Manatee 1915-1917 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Patrol vessel |
| Tonnage | 2 tons |
| Length | 35 ft (11 m) |
| Beam | 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) |
| Draft | 2 ft 3 in (0.69 m) |
| Propulsion | Gasoline engine |
| Speed | 22 knots |
| Complement | 4 |
| Armament | 1 × 1-pounder gun |
Manatee was built in 1915 for Lawrence F. Percival of the Corinthian Yacht Club of Boston as a wooden-hulled, gasoline-powered private motorboat of the same name designed by Samuel H. Brown of Marblehead, Massachusetts and built by Graves Yacht Yard of the same city.[1][2][a] Percival sold the boat to J.B. Fallon in Fall of 1916.[4] The U.S. Navy acquired her for World War I service from her owner, J. B. Fallon,[4][5] on 21 April 1917, and commissioned her as patrol boat USS Manatee (SP-51) on 23 April 1917.[3]
Manatee was assigned to "distant service" in European waters, where she supported a flying boat detachment through the end of World War I.[3]
Records of Manatee's status after the Armistice with Germany of 11 November 1918 are lacking, but she presumably returned to the United States for decommissioning and disposal. As of 1 July 1920 her name no longer appeared on the Navy List.[3]
Footnotes
edit- ^ The online Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships states that Manatee was built by "Brown Bros. Shipyard, Tottenville, Staten Island, N.Y.",[3] evidently confusing the designer, Samuel H. Brown, with A. C. Brown & Sons shipyard of Tottenville.
References
edit- ^ Fowle, Leonard M. (20 September 1915). "Italia Victor in Stern Chase". The Boston Globe. p. 6.
- ^ "Yachts and Yachtsmen". The Boston Globe. 10 October 1915. p. 33.
- ^ a b c d "Manatee I (S. P. 51)". Naval History and Heritage Command. United States Navy. 9 February 2016.
- ^ a b Aldridge, Arthur F., ed. (July 1917). "Spokes from the Rudder Wheel". The Rudder: A Magazine for Yachtsmen. Vol. 33, no. 7. The Rudder Publishing Company. p. 504. hdl:2027/mdp.39015022693496.
- ^ Aldridge, Arthur F., ed. (August 1917). "Yachts in Government Service". The Rudder: A Magazine for Yachtsmen. Vol. 33, no. 8. The Rudder Publishing Company. p. 558. hdl:2027/mdp.39015022693496.