USS Zoraya (SP-235) was an armed yacht that served in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919.
Zoraya was a wooden-hulledsteam yacht constructed in 1901 by J. M. Bayles and Sons at Port Jefferson, New York, for Ms. Atala W. Thayer. The U.S. Navy acquired her from a later owner, Mr. William Biel, for World War I service with the section patrol on 16 August 1917. She was armed, designated SP-235, and commissioned at New York City on 17 December 1917.
For the duration of the war, USS Zoraya served under the command of the Commandant, 3rd Naval District, and patrolled the coasts of New York and New Jersey.
The Navy returned Zoraya to her owners on 8 February 1919, some three months after the end of hostilities.
USS Winchester (SP-156) was an armed yacht that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919. Prior to and following World War I, Winchester was a private yacht, later renamed Renard. In World War II, Renard was requisitioned for use in the Royal Canadian Navy as a patrol vessel, keeping her name. She was returned to her owners in 1944.
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 Florence (SP-173) was a yacht leased from her owner by the U.S. Navy during World War I. She was outfitted as an armed patrol craft, and her owner, Ensign James W. Alker, was named as commanding officer of the yacht and its crew of sixteen. Florence, based out of New York City, was assigned various duties in the Long Island Sound. Post-war she was reconfigured to her original civilian condition, and was returned to her owner.
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 Wacondah (SP-238) was an advanced-design yacht acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War I. She was outfitted as an armed patrol craft assigned to guard the New York City harbor against German submarines and to provide escort protection to commercial ships. Post-war she was sold and continued her maritime career as the yacht Intercolonial.
USS Helenita (SP-210) was a yacht leased from its owner by the U.S. Navy during World War I. She was outfitted as an armed patrol craft and initially assigned to North Atlantic Ocean duty, but found to be too lightly built for the ocean. She was then relegated to patrol of Long Island Sound and the Delaware Bay until war's end, when her guns were removed and she was returned to her owner.
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 Gem (SP-41) was an armed yacht that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919.
USS Chichota (SP-65) was an armed yacht that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1918.
USS Joyance (SP-72) was an armed yacht that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919.
USS Coco (SP-110) was an armed motorboat that served in the United States Navy as a Section 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 Hoqua (SP-142) was an armed 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.
USS Cigarette (SP-1234) was a patrol vessel that served in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919.
The third USS Seneca (SP-427), later USS SP-427, was a United States Navy minesweeper and patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
USS Arcady (SP-577) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
USS Vivace (SP-583) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1918.
The second USS Calumet (SP-723) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
USS Talofa (SP-1016) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
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