USS Crystal

Last updated
USS Crystal (PY-25) circa 1942 U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph 83297.jpg
USS Crystal (PY-25)
History
US flag 48 stars.svgUnited States
Name
  • Cambriona
  • Vida
  • Crystal
Namesake Crystal
Builder Pusey and Jones Corporation, Wilmington, Delaware
Yard number407/1042
Laid down12 March 1929
Launched7 October 1929
Acquired15 January 1942
Commissioned24 February 1942
Decommissioned6 March 1946
Identification
  • Signal (1931): MHSR
  • U.S. Official Number 229626
  • IMO: 5082649
FateSold for Navy by Maritime Commission. Commercial operation in Central and South America, fate unknown.
General characteristics [1] [2] [3]
Tonnage954  GRT, 427 Net
Length
Beam34 ft (10 m)
Draft
  • 12 ft (3.7 m) (yacht)
  • 13 ft (4.0 m) (Navy)
Propulsion2 x Winton 157 diesels, 1,100shp, two shafts
Speed18 kn (33 km/h)
Complement
  • 40 (yacht)
  • Not given (Navy)
Armament2 x 3"/50 dual purpose mounts

USS Crystal (PY-25), built in 1929 as the yacht Cambriona for Walter O. Briggs of Detroit, Michigan, was a patrol yacht in the United States Navy. The Navy acquired the yacht in January 1942 as Vida commissioning the vessel as Crystal in February. Naval service was in Hawaii until November 1945. After sale in November 1947 the vessel operated commercially in Central and South America.

Contents

Construction

Cambriona, the third of three yachts of identical design developed by joint efforts of the naval architectural firms Cox & Stevens, Incorporated and John H. Wells, Incorporated, was built by the Pusey and Jones Co., Wilmington, Delaware. [2] [note 1] The vessel was assigned yard hull numbers 407/1042 [note 2] with keel laid 12 March 1929 and launch on 7 October 1929. [4] [5] Cambriona was delivered to the owner on 6 May 1930. [6] The other two Pusey and Jones built yachts of the same design were Nakhoda, hull 405/1040, for Frederick J. Fisher and Rene, hull 406/1041, for Alfred P. Sloan. [4] [5] [note 3]

The yacht was 234 ft 10 in (71.58 m) overall length, 206.5 ft (62.9 m) (registered length), 34.2 ft 0 in (10.42 m) beam with a depth of 16.8 ft 0 in (5.12 m). [1] [2] As built draft was 12 ft (3.7 m) with Navy giving draft as 13 ft 0 in (3.96 m). [1] [3] Cambriona had two Winton diesel engines of 1,100 horsepower driving twin screws. [2] [4] The yacht was lavishly furnished with a crew of forty. Cambriona was registered with U.S. Official Number 229626, home port of Detroit, Michigan with signal letters MHSR. [1] [2]

Yacht

Cambriona

Cambriona had an apartment suite for the owner that included two baths and five double staterooms with private baths for guests on the berth deck. The main deck had a large dining room forward with a hallway running through the pantry and galley area to music and living rooms and the owner's lounge and library. Above was a bridge deck with bridge, captain's quarters, radio and navigation rooms forward in a deck house. In an after house were smoking room, gymnasium and club room. [2]

From 1930 until its sale in 1941 Briggs' captain of the yacht was Gaston R. De Groote who would later captain the first nuclear powered merchant ship NS Savannah. [7]

Vida

Cambriona was bought in 1938 by Erle P. Halliburton. Halliburton, founder of the New Method Oil Well Cementing Company now known as Halliburton and member of the Newport Harbor Yacht Club, Newport Beach, California, named the yacht for his daughter as Vida under Honduran registry. The yacht was the largest in Newport Harbor and used for weekend trips to Catalina and cruises to Alaska, Mexico and Honduras. [8]

Vida was acquired by the Navy, 15 January 1942 and commissioned on 24 February 1942. The vessel arrived at Pearl Harbor 1 May 1942 for patrol and escort duty with the Hawaiian Sea Frontier. She served escorting Army transports and merchant vessels to outlying islands, transporting civilian workers and servicemen and participating in exercises and drills with destroyers. From 1 December 1943 to 14 April 1944 Vida was based at Midway for patrol duty, exercises and training with submarines. After overhaul at Pearl Harbor she returned to operations with weather station patrols added to her duties. On 8 November 1945 she got underway for the west coast arriving at San Francisco 17 November. Crystal was decommissioned there 6 March 1946 and was transferred to the custody of the Maritime Commission (MC) 2 April 1947 for disposal. [3]

Post Navy

The vessel was placed by the MC in the reserve fleet for custody only awaiting sale on behalf of the Navy on 8 November 1946. On 12 February 1947 the vessel was sold to Clyde Webster and withdrawn from the fleet 7 April for delivery to Navy, the buyer and Barnett Shipping. [9] With the name Crystal retained the ship was apparently given IMO number 5082649. [10] The vessel was used as a freighter and passenger service in Central and South America. The ship's fate is unknown. [11]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ DANFS is incorrect stating the yacht was built as Vida.
  2. ↑ A new series of hull numbers began in 1918. The new series became the only one used in 1941.
  3. ↑ Rene was also acquired by the Navy to become Beryl (PY-23).

Related Research Articles

USS <i>Aquamarine</i> Yacht

USS Aquamarine (PYc-7) was the former yacht Siele launched in April 1926 by Pusey and Jones Corporation, Wilmington, Delaware. In 1940 Siele was sold and renamed Sea Wolf which was purchased by the Navy in January 1941 and commissioned Aquamarine in April. Though given a "patrol yacht, coastal" designation the yacht was assigned to the Naval Research Laboratory for acoustical research during World War II. After naval service the yacht was again under the name Sea Wolf until sold in 1954 and renamed Miss Ann, listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

USS <i>Cyrene</i> Tender of the United States Navy

USS Cyrene (AGP-13) was a motor torpedo boat tender for the United States Navy. She was laid down as Cape Farewell, a Maritime Commission type (C1-A) hull under a Maritime Commission contract, at Pusey and Jones Corp., Wilmington, Delaware. Cyrene served in the Pacific from New Guinea to the Philippines from December 1944 to December 1945. The ship was decommissioned and placed in the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet in July 1946 then withdrawn from the reserve fleet after sale to American Ship Dismantlers in December 1976.

USS <i>Monadnock</i> (ACM-10) Minesweeper of the United States Navy

USS Monadnock (ACM-10) was a coastal minelayer in the U.S. Navy, the third vessel named after Mount Monadnock, a solitary mountain (monadnock) of more than 3,100 feet in southern New Hampshire close to the border of Massachusetts. The ship was built as the cargo vessel Cavalier for the Philadelphia and Norfolk Steamship Company by Pusey and Jones Corporation, Wilmington, Delaware in 1938. The Navy purchased the ship 9 June 1941 for wartime use. After decommissioning the ship was sold in June 1947 for commercial use then sold to a Panamanian company in 1949 to be renamed Karukara. In 1952 the ship became Monte de la Esperanza for a company in Bilbao, Spain transporting bananas to the United Kingdom from the Canary Islands for more than 20 years. She was later sold to the Marine Institute of Spain for operation as a hospital ship for more than 10 years serving the fishing fleet of the Canary Islands as Esperanza del Mar until becoming an artificial reef off Spain in 2000.

USS <i>Miantonomah</i> (CMc-5)

USS Miantonomah (CM-10/CMc-5) was built as SS Quaker by Pusey & Jones Corporation, Wilmington, Delaware in 1938 as a commercial coastwise ship operating as a fast inland water passenger and freight carrier. Quaker was acquired by the Navy in May 1941 for conversion to a coastal minelayer. Miantonomah operated off the east coast of the United States, Africa and the Mediterranean and took part in the invasion of Europe in 1944. The ship was sunk by a mine 25 September 1944.

USS <i>Guyandot</i> (AOG-16)

USS Guyandot (AOG-16) was a gasoline tanker acquired by the U.S. Navy as Veedol No. 2 from Tidewater Oil to serve as a gasoline tanker. The tanker served in Mediterranean operations often under air attack. After postwar decommissioning January 1945 in Algeria and service with the French under lend-lease the tanker was purchased in March 1949 by France serving under the name Lac Noir.

United States lightship <i>Nantucket</i> (LV-112)

United States lightship Nantucket (LV-112) is a National Historic Landmark lightship that served at the Lightship Nantucket position. She was the last serving lightship and at time of its application as a landmark, one of only two capable of moving under their own power. She served as the lightship for such notable vessels as the liners United States, Queen Mary, and Normandie.

USS <i>Alacrity</i> (SP-206)

USS Alacrity (SP-206) was a steel cruising yacht that served in the US Navy as a section patrol craft. It was built by Pusey & Jones at Wilmington, Delaware for W. A. Bradford in 1910 then sold to John H. Blodgett of Boston.

USS <i>Cythera</i> (PY-26)

The first USS Cythera (SP-575/PY-26) was a United States Navy patrol vessel that saw service in the Atlantic Ocean during both World War I and World War II.

USS <i>Mizpah</i> United States Navy patrol yacht

USS Mizpah (PY-29) was a United States Navy patrol yacht. Constructed in 1926, the vessel was constructed as the pleasure yacht Savarona. In 1929 it was renamed Allegro and then Mizpah for use on the Great Lakes. The vessel was acquired by the United States Navy in 1942 and converted to a warship and commissioned the same year. Mizpah served as a convoy escort along the United States East Coast before becoming a school ship in 1944. Following the end of the war, the vessel returned to private operation in 1946 until 1967 when Mizpah was laid up with a broken crankshaft at Tampa, Florida. An attempt to save the ship proved futile and Mizpah was scuttled off the coast of Florida as an artificial reef in 1968. The wreck is now a popular dive site.

USS <i>Nokomis</i> (SP-609)

USS Nokomis (SP-609) was a yacht purchased by the U.S. Navy during World War I. The yacht was purchased from Horace E. Dodge of Detroit, Michigan after he had the yacht luxuriously fitted out but before he could make use of his second Nokomis — the first having already gone into service.

USS <i>Lydonia</i> (SP-700) Patrol vessel of the United States Navy

USS Lydonia (SP-700) was United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919 that saw service during World War I. Prior to her U.S. Navy service, she had been William A. Lydon's private yacht, Lydonia II, from 1912 to 1917. She spent most of the war based at Gibraltar, escorting and protecting Allied ships in the Mediterranean and along the Atlantic Ocean coast of Europe. After her U.S. Navy service ended, she served from 1919 to 1947 in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey as the coastal survey ship USCGS Lydonia (CS-302).

USS <i>Artemis</i> (SP-593)

USS Artemis (SP-593), launched as the steam yacht Cristina then upon sale the yacht was renamed Artemis. The yacht was purchased by the United States Navy during World War I and the name was retained. Artemis was armed with guns and depth charges and sent to Europe as a patrol craft to protect Allied ships from German submarines and other dangers. The patrol yacht was renamed Arcturus in 1918. Post-war she was returned to the United States and turned over to the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. Later, again Artemis, the vessel was in civilian operation until burning and sinking in 1927.

The Pusey and Jones Corporation was a major shipbuilder and industrial-equipment manufacturer. Based in Wilmington, Delaware, it operated from 1848 to 1959.

USS <i>Zircon</i> (PY-16) Patrol vessel of the United States Navy

USS Zircon (PY-16) was the private yacht Nakhoda acquired by the United States Navy in 1940 serving as an armed yacht from 1941 to 1946. The yacht Nakhoda was built for automobile executive Frederick J. Fisher by Pusey and Jones Corporation, Wilmington, Delaware delivered in 1930. After the war the yacht was sold and reverted to the original name until sold in 1951 to the United New York Sandy Hook Pilots Association and renamed New York.

USS <i>Raeo</i> Patrol vessel of the United States Navy

USS Raeo (SP-588) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919. Prior to her U.S. Navy service, she operated as the motor passenger vessel Raeo from 1908 to 1917. After the conclusion of her U.S. Navy career, she served as the fishery patrol vessel USFS Kittiwake in the United States Bureau of Fisheries fleet from 1919 to 1940 and as US FWS Kittiwake in the Fish and Wildlife Service fleet from 1940 to 1942 and from 1944 to at least 1945, and perhaps as late as 1948. During World War II, she again served in the U.S. Navy, this time as the yard patrol boat USS YP-199. She was the civilian fishing vessel Raeo from 1948 to 1957, then operated in various roles as Harbor Queen from 1957 to 1997. She became Entiat Princess in 1998 and as of 2009 was still in service.

<i>Lyndonia</i> (1920) Patrol vessel of the United States Navy

Lyndonia, built 1920, was the second steam-yacht bearing the name and the third yacht built for publisher Cyrus H.K. Curtis of the Curtis Publishing Company by the then Consolidated Shipbuilding Company of Morris Heights, New York. The name is taken from the historic name of his estate, Lyndon, in Wyncote, Pennsylvania.

USS <i>Siren</i> (PY-13) Patrol vessel of the United States Navy

USS Siren (PY-13), briefly CMc-1, was built by Pusey and Jones, Wilmington, Delaware and launched 15 November 1929 as the yacht Lotosland. The yacht was acquired by the United States Navy in October 1940 and placed in commission as a Patrol Yacht from 1940 to 1946.

USS <i>Coral</i> Patrol vessel of the United States Navy

USS Coral (PY-15), previously USS Sialia (SP-543), was a yacht in commission in the United States Navy as a Patrol Yacht from 1940 to 1943.

MV Star of Malta was a passenger ferry which operated routes from Malta to Sicily in the 1950s and 1960s, notable for its sinking off Malta on 29 July 1955, resulting in the death of one crew member and one passenger. Prior to that, she had a long career under a number of different names.

SS John Cadwalader was a coastal passenger and cargo steamer launched in March 1926 by Pusey & Jones Corporation, Wilmington, Delaware for the Baltimore-Philadelphia Steamship Company for operation on overnight service between Baltimore and Philadelphia. The intended route used the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal for an inland passage using Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay and the Delaware River.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Merchant Vessels of the United States, 1931. Washington, D.C.: Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of Navigation. 1931. pp. 120–121. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Cambriona, of Surprising Beauty". MotorBoating. January 1931. pp. 38–39. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 Naval History And Heritage Command. "Crystal". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History And Heritage Command. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 Pacific American Steamship Association; Shipowners Association of the Pacific Coast (March 1930). "The Pusey and Jones Corporation". Pacific Marine Review. San Francisco: J.S. Hines: 185. Retrieved 20 October 2020.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. 1 2 Colton, Tim (September 12, 2014). "Pusey & Jones, Wilmington DE". ShipbuildingHistory. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  6. ↑ Pacific American Steamship Association; Shipowners Association of the Pacific Coast (June 1930). "The Pusey and Jones Corporation". Pacific Marine Review. San Francisco: J.S. Hines: 269. Retrieved 20 October 2020.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ "Gaston and Evelyn De Groote Scholarship". St. Leo, FL: Saint Leo University. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  8. ↑ Blaich, John (July 23, 2001). "Newport Harbor's biggest yacht". Daily Pilot. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  9. ↑ Maritime Administration. "CRYSTAL (PY-25)". Ship History Database Vessel Status Card. U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  10. ↑ "CRYSTAL (IMO 5082649) - Yacht". Vessel Tracking. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  11. ↑ Priolo, Gary P.; Radigan, Joe (2020). "Crystal (PY 25)". NavSource Online. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.