USS Carola IV

USS Carola IV off New York, 1917
History
United States
Name	USS Carola IV
Builder	Culzean Shipbuilding & Engineering Co, Maidens
Launched	1885
Acquired	June 1917
Commissioned	July 1917
Decommissioned	December 1919
Fate	Sold
General characteristics
Tonnage	240  GRT, 145  NRT
Length	144.05 ft (43.91 m)
Beam	23.15 ft (7.06 m)
Depth	13.15 ft (4.01 m)
Installed power	110 NHP
Propulsion	1 × compound engine 1 × screw
Speed	10 kn (19 km/h)
Complement	68
Armament	2 x 3-inch (76 mm) guns

USS Carola IV, was a patrol ship of the United States Navy, built in 1885 by Culzean Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Maidens, South Ayrshire, Scotland, as the steam yacht Black Pearl. She was built for the Earl of Pembroke & Montgomery. In 1895 the yacht was sold to E B Sheldon of Chicago, Illinois, USA. ^[1] and in 1900 she was purchased by Evans R Dick of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and renamed Elsa. ^{[2] [3]} She was later briefly named Haida and Columbine, but by mid-1910 was owned by Leonard Richards of New York City, Commodore of the Larchmont Yacht Club. ^{[1] [4]}

In June 1917, she was purchased by the US Navy for World War I service. Commissioned in early July, she crossed the Atlantic to Brest, France, during that month and the next, voyaging by way of Dominion of Newfoundland and the Azores. After a brief patrol operation along the French coast, in October 1917 Carola IV was condemned as unseaworthy and reduced to harbor service as an accommodation vessel. ^[5] She was employed in that capacity through the end of the Great War and for a year beyond. Carola IV was decommissioned in late December 1919. ^[6] The vessel was sold to a local Brest buyer. ^[7]

The ship was broken up in 1957. ^[7]

References

1. "Black Pearl". Scottish Built Ships. Caledonian Maritime Research Trust. Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
2. "Yachts Change Hands". The Sun. No. LXVII, 195. New York, NY. 14 March 1900. p. 5. Retrieved 8 April 2022– via Library of Congress.
3. Yacht Register. London: Lloyd's Register of British & Foreign Shipping. 1901–1902. p. 288.
4. "Yachting: Larchmont Y. C." Forest & Stream. No. LXXV, 1. New York, NY. 9 July 1910. p. 61. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
5. Williams, Greg H. (2017). The United States Merchant Marine in World War I: ships, crews, shipbuilders and operators. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. 111. ISBN   978-1-4766-2672-7 . Retrieved 8 April 2022.
6. "Carola IV". DANFS. Naval History and Heritage Command, US Navy. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
7. "Carola IV (SP 812)". NavSource. Retrieved 7 April 2022.

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entry can be found here.