USS Nahma (SP-771) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919. She operated during and in the immediate aftermath of World War I, seeing service in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Aegean Sea, and Black Sea. Prior to her U.S. Navy service, she was the private yacht Nahma, a sister ship of the yacht which became the U.S. Navy patrol vessel and presidential yacht USS Mayflower.
USS Alcedo (SP-166) was a yacht in the United States Navy. She was the first American vessel lost in World War I.
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.
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 Kanawha II (SP-130)/USS Piqua (SP-130) was a yacht acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II. 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 fifth USS Ranger (SP-237) was United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
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.
The third USS Wanderer (SP-132), was an armed yacht that served in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919.
USS Gem (SP-41) was an armed yacht that served in the United States Navy as a 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.
USS Mary Alice (SP-397) was a United States Navy patrol vessel commissioned in 1917 and sunk in 1918.
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.
The first USS Guinevere (SP-512) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1918.
USS Edorea (SP-549) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1918.
USS Arcady (SP-577) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
USS Satilla (SP-687) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
The second USS Calumet (SP-723) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
HMCS Wolf was an armed yacht of the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II that saw service on the British Columbia Coast of Canada. Constructed in 1915 as the yacht Wenowah, with the US entry into World War I, the vessel was taken into United States Navy service as USS Wenonah (SP-165) as a patrol ship. The vessel escorted convoys between the United States and Europe and between Gibraltar and Bizerte, Tunis and Genoa, Italy. After the war, Wenonah was loaned to the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey for three and a half years before being sold to private interests in 1928. In private ownership, the vessel was renamed at least twice, including Stranger and Blue Water.
United States