USS Paulding (DD-22) was the lead ship of Paulding-class destroyers in the United States Navy. She was named for Rear Admiral Hiram A. Paulding (1797-1878). She was in commission from 1910 to 1919 and saw service in World War I.
USS Absegami (SP-371) was a motorboat acquired on a free lease by the United States Navy during World War I. She was outfitted as an armed patrol craft and assigned to patrol the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Cape May, New Jersey on the Delaware Bay. When the Navy found her excess to their needs, she was returned to her former owner.
USS Isabel (SP-521), later PY-10, was a yacht in commission in the United States Navy as a destroyer from 1917 to 1920 and as a patrol yacht from 1921 to 1946.
Daniel Augustus Joseph Sullivan was a United States Naval Reserve officer and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War I.
USS Kanawha II (SP-130)/USS Piqua (SP-130) was a yacht acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War I. 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.
The first USS Vedette (SP-163) was a commercial yacht built in 1899. At the outbreak of World War I, the yacht was leased by the United States Navy, and was used as a section patrol craft in the North Atlantic Ocean. She served honorably during the war, rescuing survivors at sea, and attacking a German U-boat. At war’s end, she was converted to her original configuration and returned to her owner, the railroad executive, financier, and philanthropist Frederick W. Vanderbilt (1856-1938) of New York City.
USS Noma (SP-131) was the private steam yacht Noma, built in 1902 on Staten Island and loaned to the U.S. Navy during World War I as a patrol craft assigned to protect shipping from German submarines. At war’s end she served the American Relief Commission in Constantinople and the Black Sea before being returned to her owner after decommissioning. In the 1930s she was converted to a salvage tug, owned in Italy as Salvatore Primo, and torpedoed during World War II.
USS Inca (SP-1212) was a 62-foot-long motorboat leased by the U.S. Navy during World War I. She was outfitted as a patrol craft, but was additionally assigned other duties, such as rescue craft, seaplane tender, and dispatch boat. She served in the Boston, Massachusetts, and Hampton Roads, Virginia, waterways until war’s end when 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.
The third USS Wanderer (SP-132), was an armed yacht that served in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919.
USS Little Aie (SP-60) was an armed yacht that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919.
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 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.
USS Sans Souci II (SP-301) was an armed motorboat that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919.
USS Whistler (SP-784) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
USS Owaissa (SP-659) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
USS Vencedor (SP-669) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1918.
USS Robert H. McCurdy was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1918 to 1919.
United States Navy operations during World War I began on April 6, 1917, after the formal declaration of war on the German Empire. The United States Navy focused on countering enemy U-boats in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea while convoying men and supplies to France and Italy. Because of United States's late entry into the war, her capital ships never engaged the German fleet and few decisive submarine actions occurred.
