USS Seatag (SP-505), also spelled Sea Tag, was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1918.
 Seatag as a civilian motorboat, photographed in a boat shed probably around the time of her completion in 1917.
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USS Seatag or Sea Tag |
| Namesake | Previous name retained |
| Builder | Great Lakes Boatbuilding Corporation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Completed | 1917 |
| Acquired | 9 July 1917 |
| Commissioned | 1 August 1917 |
| Decommissioned | 18 November 1918 |
| Fate | Returned to owner 7 March 1919 |
| Notes | Operated as private motorboat Seatag or Sea Tag in 1917 and from 1919 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Patrol vessel |
| Length | 51 ft (16 m) |
| Beam | 10 ft 3 in (3.12 m) |
| Draft | 2 ft 5 in (0.74 m) |
| Speed | 22 miles per hour[1] |
| Complement | 10 |
| Armament | 1 × 1-pounder gun |
Seatag was built in 1917 as a private motorboat of the same name by the Great Lakes Boatbuilding Corporation at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On 9 July 1917, the U.S. Navy acquired her under a free lease from her owner, Donald Ryerson of Chicago, Illinois, for use as a section patrol vessel during World War I. She was commissioned as USS Seatag or Sea Tag (SP-505) on 1 August 1917.
Seatag served on the Great Lakes for the rest of World War I. She served primarily on the Detroit River and St. Clair River patrols until 4 October 1918.
Seatag was decommissioned on 18 November 1918, a week after the end of World War I. She was returned to Ryerson on 7 March 1919.
Notes
edit- ^ The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/s8/seatag.htm and NavSource Online at http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/170505.htm give Seatag's speed as 22 miles per hour, implying statute miles per hour, an unusual unit of measure for the speed of a watercraft. It is possible that her speed actually was 22 knots. If 22 statute miles per hour is accurate, the equivalent in knots is 19.
References
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This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.- Department of the Navy Naval History and Heritage Command Online Library of Selected Images: Civilian Ships: Sea Tag (American Motor Boat, 1917). Served as USS Sea Tag (SP-505) in 1917-1919 Name also spelled Seatag
- NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive: Seatag (SP 505)
