USS Kanawha II (SP-130)/USS Piqua (SP-130) -- was a yacht acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was placed into service as an escort for Allied convoys traveling across the dangerous North Atlantic Ocean. German U-boats were active in sinking Allied ships, and Kanawha II provided a valuable service as a lookout and in one instance attacked one and drove it off. Post-war she was returned to her pre-war owner in July 1919.
An armed yacht was a yacht that was armed with weapons and was typically in the service of a navy. The word "yacht" was originally applied to small, fast and agile naval vessels suited to piracy and to employment by navies and coast guards against smugglers and pirates. Vessels of this type were adapted to racing by wealthy owners. The origin of civilian yachts as naval vessels, with their speed and maneuverability, made them useful for adaptation to their original function as patrol vessels. In the United States Navy armed yachts were typically private yachts expropriated for government use in times of war. Armed yachts served as patrol vessels during the Spanish–American War and the World Wars. In the latter conflicts, armed yachts were used as patrol vessels, convoy escorts, and in anti-submarine duties. In the United States, yachts were purchased from their owners with the owners given an option to repurchase their yacht at the close of hostilities.
USS Halcyon II (SP-582) was a yacht acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War I. She was outfitted as an armed patrol craft and stationed in Boston harbor in Massachusetts. She spent much of the war patrolling the Massachusetts waterways for German submarines and, in 1919, was decommissioned after being damaged in a collision.
USS Lyndonia (SP-734), later known as USS Vega (SP-734) was a yacht acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War I. She was assigned as an armed patrol craft, but, at times, performed other duties along the U.S. East Coast, such as dispatch boat and training ship for the U.S. Naval Academy. Post-war, she was disposed of through sale to the public.
USS Utowana (SP-951) – also known as USS Victorine (SP-951) -- was a fishing trawler acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War I. The Navy had planned to use her as a minesweeper based out of Kittery, Maine; however, Utowana spent most of her service time operating as an armed patrol craft, responsible for escorting Allied ships across the dangerous North Atlantic Ocean. She served through the war and the armistice before returning to the United States for decommissioning.
USS Zara (SP-133) was a steam yacht that was built in Scotland in 1890, passed through a number of British, Canadian and US owners, and ended up as a passenger steamship in Greece after the First World War. She was renamed several times, becoming Solgar, Electra and finally Zoodohos Pigi. In the latter part of the war she spent a year as an armed yacht in the United States Navy.
USS Riette (SP-107) was an armed motorboat that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919.
The third USS Mohican (SP-117), later USS SP-117, was an armed yacht that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919.
USS Tanguingui (SP-126) was an armed motor yacht that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919.
The second USS Sovereign (SP-170) was an armed yacht that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1918 to 1919.
The first USS Whirlwind (SP-221) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission in 1917 and again in 1918.
USS Navajo III (SP-298), later USS SP-298, was an armed motorboat that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919.
The wooden-hulled, twin-screw, steam yacht Akela—built in 1899 at Morris Heights, N.Y., by the Gas Engine and Power Co. and the Charles L. Seabury Co.—was acquired by the Navy from Bridgeport, Connecticut businessman Henry Alfred Bishop and delivered on 24 December 1917. Redesignated USS Akela (SP-1793) was commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 16 April 1918.
USS Gaivota (SP-436) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1918.
USS Vivace (SP-583) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1918.
USS Owaissa (SP-659) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
USS Satilla (SP-687) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
USS Lexington II (SP-705), later USS SP-705, was an American patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1918.
USS Linta (SP-721) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
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.
United States