Adroit was built as Winchester at City Island, New York in 1907 by the Robert Jacobs Shipyard.[1] The first of a series of fast yachts of that name, her owner replaced her with a larger vessel after several years.[citation needed] She was sold and renamed Adroit in about 1916. She was acquired by the Navy in April 1917 from Mr. F. H. McAdoo of New York City.[1]
After she had begun fitting out under the direction of Lt. H. B. Peschau, NNV, Adroit was found to be highly unseaworthy and of extremely short cruising range. Consequently, she was never commissioned and was returned to her owner on 30 April 1918. Presumably, her name—which had appeared on the Navy list— was stricken from that list soon thereafter.[1]
Her subsequent career as a pleasure craft extended for more than another two decades. She was renamed Aera in 1928 and remained listed in yachting registers until the early 1940s.[citation needed]
USS Mayflower (PY-1) was a 275 ft (84 m), 2,690 t (2,650 LT) motor vessel originally built as a private yacht that went on to serve in a variety of military, governmental, and commercial roles.
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.
The fifth USS Ranger (SP-237) was United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
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 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 Druid (SP-321) was a private yacht launched 10 February 1902 as Rheclair that was built for Daniel G. Reid. Reid sold the yacht to Senator Nelson W. Aldrich who renamed the yacht Nirvana only just over a year before his death. Aldrich's estate chartered Nirvana to John Wanamaker until it was bought by his son Rodman Wanamaker who used the yacht for cruising until a fire on 14 December 1916, just before a cruise south, severely damaged the vessel. He chartered an alternate vessel for his trip south and, after full repairs, the yacht was sold to Walter W. Dwyer who gave it the name Druid with intentions to sell the yacht to the government in order to finance a shipyard venture in Pensacola, Florida.
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 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 De Grasse (ID-1217) was the projected name for an armed yacht that the United States Navy acquired for service as a patrol vessel in 1918 but, according to some sources, never commissioned, although other sources claim she saw brief naval service in 1918. In World War II, she was reacquired and served as YP-506. The yacht's official number was registered under the name Fleet as of 1959, fate unknown.
USS Charlton Hall (ID-1359) was a cargo steamship that was built in Scotland in 1907 and served in the merchant fleets of the United Kingdom, United States and Greece. She served in the United States Navy in 1918. She was renamed Atlantis and then Anastasis in 1930. She was scrapped in China in 1934.
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.
Aphrodite was a yacht built to requirements by owner Colonel Oliver H. Payne of New York City as an ocean going steam yacht with barque rig and capable of good speed under sail alone. The yacht was launched 1 December 1898 and completed in 1899 to be the largest American built steam yacht at the time. The yacht served in the United States Navy as the patrol vessel USS Aphrodite from May 1917 to July 1919. The yacht was given the designation SP-135 for Section patrol and was, unlike the majority of section patrol vessels, sent overseas rather than acting in that capacity in home waters. The yacht was returned to private service after the war.
USS Remlik (SP-157) was a steam yacht that was built in England in 1903 as Candace. She was renamed Remlik in 1907 when she changed owners. She was converted into a United States Navy patrol boat in 1917 and served in the First World War. She was decommissioned in 1919, converted into a commercial craft in 1920, and scuttled in 1932.
USS Owera (SP-167), was an armed yacht that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919. The vessel, under the name O-We-Ra, was built as a steam yacht in Leith, Scotland in 1907 for Frederick H. Stevens of Buffalo, New York. In 1915 the yacht was sold to United States Senator Peter G. Gerry of Rhode Island and registered in Providence, Rhode Island as Owera.
The iron-hulled, single-screw steam yacht Utowana was completed in 1883 at Chester, Pennsylvania, by the Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works for Washington Everett Connor. On sale to Elias Cornelius Benedict the yacht's name was changed to Oneida (1887), then when Benedict bought a new yacht to be named Oneida and sale of the old yacht and conversion to a tow boat the name was changed to Adelante (1913). During Benedict's ownership Oneida was the covert site of an operation on President Grover Cleveland, a friend of Benedict's and frequent guest on the yacht, to remove a cancerous tumor in his mouth.
USS Surf (SP-518) was a steam yacht that was offered to the United States Navy in 1917 but was never accepted.
USS Arcady (SP-577) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
Rosinco was a diesel-powered luxury yacht that sank in Lake Michigan off the coast of Kenosha, Wisconsin in 1928. The yacht was built in 1916 as Georgiana III and served during World War I as USS Georgiana III, a Section patrol craft, under a free lease to the Navy by her owner and commanding officer. After the war the yacht was sold and renamed Whitemarsh in 1918. In 1925, after sale to Robert Hosmer Morse of Fairbanks-Morse, the yacht became Rosinco. She was sunk following a collision in 1928 and the wreck was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.
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