USC&GS Natoma

Last updated
USS Natoma (SP-666).jpg
Natoma in private use prior to her U.S. Navy service.
History
NameNatoma
Owner
  • Charles H. Foster
  • R. Howe
Port of registryChicago, IL
Builder Gas Engine and Power Company and Charles L. Seabury and Sons, Morris Heights, New York
Yard number2337
Completed1913
IdentificationU.S. Official Number 211436
FateSold to U.S. Navy 1917
General characteristics
TypeMotor yacht
Tonnage
Length
  • 119 ft (36.3 m) overall
  • 118.9 ft (36.2 m) registry length
  • 112 ft (34.1 m) waterline
Beam17.1 ft (5.2 m)
Depth8.5 ft (2.6 m)
Propulsion2 X 8½ X 10 Speedway gasoline engines, total 330 hp
Speed
  • 14 mph (12 kn; 23 km/h)
  • 16 mph (14 kn; 26 km/h) maximum
Crew4
History
US flag 48 stars.svgUnited States
NameNatoma
NamesakePrevious name retained
Costacquisition price: $45,000 USD
Acquired4 July 1917
Commissioned23 August 1917
FateTransferred to United States Coast and Geodetic Survey 4 April 1919
USC&GS Natoma in 1928.jpg
USC&GS Natoma in 1928. Note U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey flag flying at top of foremast.
US flag 48 stars.svg Flag of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.svg United States
NameNatoma
NamesakePrevious name retained
Acquired4 April 1919
Commissioned1919
Decommissioned1935
General characteristics (as U.S. Navy vessel) [1] [2]
Type Patrol vessel
Tonnage
Displacement112 tons
Length
Beam17 ft 6 in (5.33 m)
Draft5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) mean
Propulsionsame as yacht
Speed10 knots
Range850 nmi (980 mi; 1,570 km)
Complement49
Armament
General characteristics (as U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey vessel)
Type Survey ship
Displacement112 tons
Length120 ft (37 m)
Beam17 ft 6 in (5.33 m)
Draft5 ft (1.5 m)
Speed10 knots

USC&GS Natoma was built as the private motorboat Natoma in 1913 for Charles H. Foster, President of the Cadillac Motor Car Company of Chicago. In 1917 the United States Navy acquired the boat for use in World War I. The vessel was commissioned USS Natoma for Section Patrol duties and designated SP-666. Natoma spent the war years patrolling New York harbor and approaches. On 9 April 1919 the boat was transferred to United States Coast and Geodetic Survey surveying on both coasts until 1935.

Contents

Construction

Natoma was designed and built as a private motorboat in 1913 for Charles H. Foster, President of the Cadillac Motor Car Company of Chicago, at Morris Heights, New York, by Gas Engine and Power Company and Charles L. Seabury and Sons. [3] The yacht was hull number 2337 and registered with U.S. Official Number 211436. [4] [5] Registry information gives 112  GRT, 76  NRT, 118.9 ft (36.2 m) registry length, 17.1 ft (5.2 m) beam, 8.5 ft (2.6 m) depth, with a crew of four and home port of Chicago. [5] Similar dimensions given are 112 ft (34.1 m) waterline length and 119 ft (36.3 m) length overall in general descriptions. [3]

The steel hulled boat was powered by two 8½ X 10 [note 1] Speedway gasoline engines generating a total of 330 horsepower giving a speed of 14 mph (12 kn; 23 km/h) and maximum speed of 16 mph (14 kn; 26 km/h). [3] Speedway engines were a product of the Gas Engine and Power Company, merged with Charles L. Seabury and Sons, and shortly to become Consolidated Shipbuilding. [4] [6]

The aft part had two double staterooms and lobby that could be used as an extra stateroom with wash basins and access to the bathroom with hot and cold water. A center cabin was fitted with comfortable seating, book cases and a desk. The spaces were heated by hot water radiators. A General Electric motor generator furnished electrical power with electric lighting throughout. The main saloon in the forward deck house was furnished in mahogany and black leather with a buffet at the after end. [3]

At some point the boat came under the ownership of Richard Howe who sold it to the Navy for $45,000. [1]

United States Navy service, 1917-1919

The U.S. Navy purchased Natoma from Richard F. Howe of New York City for $45,000 on 3 July 1917 for World War I service and commissioned her on 23 August 1917 as USS Natoma (SP-666). [7] [2] Natoma was assigned to section patrol duty in the 3rd Naval District during World War I. [2] The patrols were around the New York harbor entrance light ships and keeping restricted areas clear of traffic that would hinder troopship movements. [8] After the Armistice with Germany, she was decommissioned. [2]

United States Coast and Geodetic Survey service, 1919-1935

The U.S. Navy transferred Natoma to the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey on 9 April 1919. [note 2] Natoma served as a survey ship along both the United States East Coast and the United States West Coast during her years with the Coast and Geodetic Survey.

Between transfer and 23 May the vessel was being readied for survey work on the Pacific coast. On 23 May USC&GS Natoma left New York reaching Panama by 30 June and arriving at San Francisco 27 July 1919. [9] [10] By 31 July the vessel had begun work surveying the Bonita Channel at the request of the Navy's Pacific Fleet. [9] On completion of this survey the vessel began a survey of San Francisco Bay including revision of the shore line that lasted until 15 April 1920 after which the vessel underwent repairs. [10] On 13 July 1920 Natoma departed San Francisco to undertake surveys of the harbor at Los Angeles that lasted until 14 December 1920. The vessel returned to San Francisco surveying the bay until 26 May 1921 when the vessel underwent repairs and overhaul preparing for the next survey season. [11]

Alterations providing additional accommodations were made during fiscal year 1925 with the vessel then surveying in Alaskan waters. Survey of Kaigani Strait, two harbors on Tlevak Strait and Kruzof Island are noted. [12] Work on the West Coast continued until the spring of 1927 when the vessel was transferred to the East Coast, surveying doubtful areas on the approaches to the Panama Canal. [13] By the fall and winter of 1932 Natoma was surveying the Hudson River after maintenance of the river had led to greater depths to Albany, New York for deeper draft vessels. [14]

The Survey decommissioned Natoma in 1935.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The designation is defined in the Navy reference Ships' Data U.S. Naval Vessels (1918). The engines were 6 cylinder with cylinder dimensions of 8.5 in (21.6 cm) and 10 in (25.4 cm) stroke.
  2. ↑ DANFS has 4 April.

Related Research Articles

USC&GS <i>A. D. Bache</i> (1901)

USC&GS A. D. Bache (1901-1927), often referred to only as Bache, continued the name of the Bache of 1871 and has been confused, including in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, with that ship even though an entirely new hull and boiler were built in 1901 and only the name and some machinery and instruments were transferred to the new hull. The Bache of 1901 was transferred to the U.S. Navy for World War I service between 24 September 1917 through 21 June 1919 when she was returned to the Coast and Geodetic Survey.

USS <i>Lydonia</i> (SP-700) Patrol vessel of the United States Navy

USS Lydonia (SP-700) was United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919 that saw service during World War I. Prior to her U.S. Navy service, she had been William A. Lydon's private yacht, Lydonia II, from 1912 to 1917. She spent most of the war based at Gibraltar, escorting and protecting Allied ships in the Mediterranean and along the Atlantic Ocean coast of Europe. After her U.S. Navy service ended, she served from 1919 to 1947 in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey as the coastal survey ship USCGS Lydonia (CS-302).

USS <i>Wachusetts</i> (SP-548)

USS Wachusetts (SP-548) was an armed motorboat that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919. She was renamed SP-548 during her period of service. In 1919 she was transferred to the United States Bureau of Fisheries and renamed USFS Fulmar, and operated as a fisheries science research vessel on the Great Lakes until 1933 or 1934, when she was transferred to the Ohio Division of Conservation.

USC&GS <i>Pioneer</i> (1918)

USC&GS Pioneer was a survey ship that served in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1922 to 1941. She was the first ship of the Coast and Geodetic Survey to bear the name.

USC&GS Arago was a survey ship that served in the United States Coast Survey from 1854 to 1878 and in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1878 to 1881. From October 1861 into 1863 Arago was at times attached to the Navy's South Atlantic Blockading Squadron off South Carolina to provide hydrographic support. She was the first ship of the Coast Survey or Coast and Geodetic Survey to bear the name.

USC&GS <i>Matchless</i>

USC&GS Matchless was a wood, two masted schooner that served as a survey ship in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1885 to 1919. She was the only Coast and Geodetic Survey ship to bear the name and the last sailing vessel owned and operated by the Survey.

USC&GS <i>Isis</i>

USC&GS Isis was a survey ship that served in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1915 to 1917 and from 1919 to 1920.

USC&GS <i>Marinduque</i>

USC&GS Marinduque was a steamer, owned by the Philippine Insular Government, that served exclusively in the Philippines. The ship was purchased by the Philippine Bureau of Coast Guard and Transportation to support both government logistical and administrative travel needs as well as the usual functions of a coast guard vessel. The vessel was transferred to the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey serving as a survey ship from 1905 to 1932. Marinduque and Romblon were sister ships, both built in Japan.

USC&GS <i>Mikawe</i> Patrol vessel of the United States Navy

USC&GS Mikawe was a United States Coast and Geodetic Survey launch in commission from 1920 to 1939.

USC&GSS <i>Research</i> (1901)

USC&GSS Research was a survey vessel owned by the Philippine Insular Government to be the first vessel operated by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in the Philippines from 1901 until 1918.

USC&GSS <i>Pathfinder</i> (1899–1941)

The first USC&GSS Pathfinder, also noted in some NOAA histories as "old Pathfinder", was a United States Coast and Geodetic Survey ship in service from 1899 to 1941, when she was beached in sinking condition on January 30, 1942, after 40 years service in the Philippines.

USS <i>Raeo</i> Patrol vessel of the United States Navy

USS Raeo (SP-588) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919. Prior to her U.S. Navy service, she operated as the motor passenger vessel Raeo from 1908 to 1917. After the conclusion of her U.S. Navy career, she served as the fishery patrol vessel USFS Kittiwake in the United States Bureau of Fisheries fleet from 1919 to 1940 and as US FWS Kittiwake in the Fish and Wildlife Service fleet from 1940 to 1942 and from 1944 to at least 1945, and perhaps as late as 1948. During World War II, she again served in the U.S. Navy, this time as the yard patrol boat USS YP-199. She was the civilian fishing vessel Raeo from 1948 to 1957, then operated in various roles as Harbor Queen from 1957 to 1997. She became Entiat Princess in 1998 and as of 2009 was still in service.

USS <i>Polly</i> (SP-690)

USS Polly (SP-690) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919. After the conclusion of her Navy career, she operated in the fleet of the United States Bureau of Fisheries as USFS Curlew.

USC&GS <i>George S. Blake</i>

USC&GS George S. Blake, in service 1874–1905, is, with the U.S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross, one of only two US oceanographic vessels with her name inscribed in the façade of the Oceanographic Museum, Monaco due to her being "the most innovative oceanographic vessel of the Nineteenth Century" with development of deep ocean exploration through introduction of steel cable for sounding, dredging and deep anchoring and data collection for the "first truly modern bathymetric map of a deep sea area."

USC&GS <i>A. D. Bache</i> (1871)

USC&GS A. D. Bache (1871–1900), the second steamer of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, was named for the former superintendent Alexander Dallas Bache and launched August 1871 at Wilmington, Delaware.

USS <i>Onward</i> (SP-311) Patrol vessel of the United States Navy

USS Onward (SP-311), a former yacht named Galatea and then Ungava was a patrol yacht acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War I. She was transferred to the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey where she served briefly until return to the Navy for a brief time before her disposal by sale. She was renamed Thelma Phoebe.

USC&GS <i>Explorer</i> (1904)

The first USC&GS Explorer was a steamer that served as a survey ship in the US Coast & Geodetic Survey (USCGS) from 1904-1939 with brief time 1918-1919 assigned to Navy for patrol in Alaskan waters. After initial service in the Atlantic the ship transferred to Seattle in 1907 to begin survey work in Alaskan waters during summer and more southern waters in winter. On return from the Navy the ship was condemned and due to be sold. Instead the ship was retained as a survey vessel into the fall of 1939 and existed into World War II when it saw service with the United States Army Corps of Engineers as Atkins.

USS <i>Audwin</i> Patrol vessel of the United States Navy

USS Audwin (SP-451) was a patrol vessel that served in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919. She then was a survey vessel in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1919 to 1927.

USS <i>Helianthus</i> (SP-585) Patrol vessel of the United States Navy

USS Helianthus (SP-585) was a patrol vessel in commission in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919, seeing service in World War I. After her U.S. Navy service, she was in commission in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey as the survey launch USC&GS Helianthus from 1919 to 1939. She was named after the Helianthus, the genus to which the sunflower belongs.

USFC <i>Phalarope</i>

USFC Phalarope was an American fish culture and fisheries science research vessel that operated along the coast of New England. She was part of the fleet of the United States Commission on Fish and Fisheries, generally referred to as the United States Fish Commission, from 1900 to 1903 and in the fleet of its successor, the United States Bureau of Fisheries, as USFS Phalarope from 1903 until 1917 and again from 1919 until fiscal year 1933. She was in commission in the United States Navy as the patrol vessel USS Phalarope from 1917 to 1919, seeing service during World War I. Before her United States Government service, she was the steam yacht Adelita.

References

  1. 1 2 Construction & Repair Bureau (Navy) (November 1, 1918). Ships' Data U.S. Naval Vessels. Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 333–373. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Naval History And Heritage Command (February 10, 2016). "Natoma (S. P. 666)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History And Heritage Command. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Natoma". MotorBoating. New York, NY: New Publication Company. 12 (3): 22–24. September 1913. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  4. 1 2 Colton, Tim (June 8, 2020). "Consolidated Shipbuilding, Morris Heights NY". ShipbuildingHistory. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  5. 1 2 Forty-Sixth Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States, Year ended June 30, 1914. Washington, D.C.: Department of Commerce, Bureau of Navigation. 1914. p. 251. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  6. ↑ "The Trade". The Motor Boat. 18 (13): 41. July 10, 1921. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  7. ↑ Vessels Taken Over on Free Lease Basis by Naval Districts. Hearings Before Committee on Naval Affairs of the House of Representatives on Estimates Submitted by the Secretary of the Navy, 1919 (Report). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1919. p. 184. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  8. ↑ "Machinists Mate Harold J. Gahn". MotorBoating. New York, NY: New Publication Company. 23 (4): 38. April 1919. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  9. 1 2 Annual Report of the Superintendent, United States Coast and Geodetic Survey for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1919. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1919. p. 45.
  10. 1 2 Annual Report of the Superintendent, United States Coast and Geodetic Survey for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1920. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1920. p. 95.
  11. ↑ Annual Report of the Superintendent, United States Coast and Geodetic Survey for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1921. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1921. p. 33.
  12. ↑ Annual Report of the Superintendent, United States Coast and Geodetic Survey for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1925. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1925. pp. 42, 68.
  13. ↑ Annual Report of the Superintendent, United States Coast and Geodetic Survey for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1928. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1928. p. 21.
  14. ↑ Annual Report of the Secretary of Commerce for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1933. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1933. p. 111.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.