USS Siren (PY-13)

Last updated

USS Siren (PY 13) July 1943.jpg
USS Siren (PY-13), July 1943.
History
Flag of the United States.svgUnited States
NameLotosland (1929–1940)
OwnerColonel Edward A. Deeds
Builder Pusey and Jones, Wilmington, Delaware
Yard number408
Laid down13 June 1929
Launched15 November 1929
Completed14 June 1930 (delivered)
Identification
History
US flag 48 stars.svgUnited States
NameSiren (1940–1945)
Namesake Siren
Cost$140,000
Acquired16 October 1940
Commissioned19 July 1940
Decommissioned2 May 1944
RenamedSiren, 12 November 1940
ReclassifiedPatrol Yacht, PY-13, 15 November 1940
Refit31 October 1940, General Ship and Engine Works, East Boston, Massachusetts
In service2 May 1944, Naval Training School (Salvage), Pier 88, New York
Out of service23 October 1945
Stricken3 November 1945
Identification
FateSold, 31 December 1946, sold foreign, Colombian flag, by 1950
General characteristics [1] [2]
Type
  • Yacht (1929–1940)
  • Coastal Minelayer (1940)
  • Patrol Yacht (1940–1945)
Tonnage662  GRT, 337 Net
Displacement720 long tons (732  t)
Length
  • 196 ft 5 in (59.87 m) (overall)
  • 185 ft (56 m) (registry)
Beam
  • 26.1 ft (8.0 m) (registered)
  • 28 ft 2 in (8.59 m) (DANFS) [note 1]
Draft11 ft (3.4 m)
Depth14.2 ft (4.3 m)
Installed power
Propulsion2 × screw
Speed12.5 knots (23.2 km/h; 14.4 mph)
Range12,000 nmi (14,000 mi; 22,000 km)
Crew
  • 35 (yacht)
  • 89 (Navy)
Armament

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.

Contents

Construction

Lotosland, a yacht designed by the yacht design firm of Cox & Stevens and built in 1929 by Pusey and Jones of Wilmington, Delaware for Edward A. Deeds. [note 2] The yacht's keel was laid 13 June 1929 as yard hull 408, contract 1043, and launched 15 November 1929. [3] [4] [5] Deed's friend Orville Wright attended the launch ceremony. [6] On 14 June 1930 the yacht was delivered to be registered with U.S. Official Number 229875 and signal MHWN. [1] [4]

Yacht Lotosland

Lotosland was constructed of steel with clipper bow and transom stern with two pole masts and stack placed approximately amidships. A continuous deck house on the main deck contained a dining room forward with an inside passage running through the pantry to the library and a music and living room. Aft of the deck house a clear deck 40 ft (12.2 m) in length by 20 ft (6.1 m) wide suitable for dancing and other entertainment. Above was an unusually large bridge deck housing in which there were two staterooms with private baths for the owner and his wife designed for use in tropical cruising. Seven staterooms were on the berth deck, accessed from the main deck living room above by stairs. In addition to the two for the owner were five for guests. The spaces were air conditioned by early devices called Room Coolers hidden behind decorative grill work. Woodwork was teak and black walnut. Fireplaces were marble. [7] [8] [9] [10] Lotosland, even as a civilian yacht, was armed. In addition to trap shooting facilities on the stern the yacht was equipped with a one-pounder gun and a machine gun. [11]

The steel yacht was unusual in that an organ, specially designed to resist dampness, was installed. The nine ranks of 549 pipes were installed in a special compartment on the berth deck, an area normally used for a stateroom, and the organ was installed above in the living room aft on the main deck. [7] [8] [12]

An even more unusual feature for the time was capability to carry and handle an amphibious aircraft. The plane was carried on deck on the top of the after deck house and handled by a boom on the main mast. The references note the aircraft as a Loening; however, the actual aircraft was a Sikorsky S-39A four place amphibian. [7] [8] [13] The original airplane was dropped as it was being lifted aboard and destroyed. It was replaced the next day by the Sikorsky. [14]

Two six cylinder, 500 horsepower Winton diesel engines capable of a cruising speed of 12.5 kn (14.4 mph; 23.2 km/h) and a top speed of 14 kn (16 mph; 26 km/h) with fuel capacity for 12,000 nmi (14,000 mi; 22,000 km) at cruising speed. [7] [8]

Lotosland was purchased from Col. Edward A. Deeds on 16 October 1940 for use as a coastal minesweeper and was renamed Siren (CMc-1). On 15 November 1940, she was commissioned and redesignated a patrol yacht, PY-13. [2]

Siren was converted for military use at the General Engineering & Ship Works yards in Neponset, Mass. Her conversion completed by mid-March. Siren reported on the 18th for duty to the Commandant of the 1st Naval District. [2]

Service history

From her home yard, Boston, she patrolled the New England coast from Eastport, Maine, to Block Island, Rhode Island. For almost a year, from March 1941 until February 1942, Siren served with the Inshore Patrol, at first on Neutrality Patrol and then, after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and Germany's declaration of war on the following day, in the actual defense of the United States shoreline. [2]

On 10 February 1942, Siren was reassigned to the Eastern Sea Frontier. This change was part of the Navy's response to the German submarine offensive of 1942 which was centered in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. During this and her next assignment-to the Commander, Atlantic Fleet-from December 1942 until April 1944, Siren patrolled and escorted convoys along the southeastern coast of the United States and between the islands of the Caribbean. Her duties during these two assignments carried her to such places as Trinidad, Jamaica, Cuba, and Key West. On one occasion, she even ventured as far south as Recife, Brazil. During this period, Siren rescued survivors of a U-boat sunk by a Navy PBY patrol plane. [2]

After a short period assigned to the 7th Naval District at Key West, Florida, in April 1944, she was transferred to the 3d Naval District at New York City for duty at the Naval Training School (Salvage). Siren was decommissioned at New York on 2 May 1944 and was placed in service. She served at the Naval Training School (Salvage) until 3 March 1945, when she sailed for temporary duty in the 8th Naval District at Orange, Texas. On 3 October 1945, she arrived at Tompkinsville, New York, to begin preparing for lay-up; and she was placed out of service there on 23 October 1945. Siren was struck from the Navy list on 13 November 1945 and turned over to the War Shipping Administration for disposal. She was sold on 13 August 1946. [2]

Sale

The vessel was sold 31 December 1946 for $12,100 and in 1950 is shown as sold foreign with flag being Colombian. [15] [16]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Difference in measurement basis probably accounts for beam difference.
  2. ↑ Deeds was an electrical engineer and industrialist. His industrial connectins included the National Cash Register Company, the Dayton Engineering Laboratories (DELCO), a founder along with Orville Wright of the Dayton-Wright Airplane Company, Pratt & Whitney, and the U.S. Army as Chief of Aircraft Production.

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) US cargo ship and minelayer, 1938 to 1944

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>

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>Hilo</i> Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Hilo (AGP-2) was a converted yacht that saw service as a motor torpedo boat tender in the United States Navy during World War II. It was originally the yacht Caroline built for Eldridge R. Johnson and launched 18 July 1931. Caroline was at the time the second largest yacht and largest American built Diesel yacht. It was built with a laboratory as well as palatial quarters and was loaned and equipped by Johnson for the Johnson-Smithsonian Deep-Sea Expedition of 1933 that explored the Puerto Rico Trench. The yacht was sold in 1938 to William B. Leeds and renamed Moana replacing an earlier Leeds yacht of the same name.

USS <i>Sylph</i> (PY-5)

USS Sylph (PY-5) was a steel hulled steam yacht that served as a presidential yacht operating from the Washington Navy Yard from the late 19th century through the presidency of Woodrow Wilson. Afterwards the yacht was used by the Secretary of the Navy and Assistant Secretary of the Navy. After decommissioning and sale in 1929 the yacht was used as a party fishing boat in New York and later a ferry. Sometime around 1950 the line went out of business and the vessel was abandoned at a pier at West 37th Street, Sea Gate, Brooklyn. The pier and abandoned vessel were reduced by fire and storms to the waterline and wreckage in the sands which still may be exposed by storms.

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

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.

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> 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.

USS <i>Niagara</i> (SP-136) Steam yacht utilized by the US Navy from 1917–1931

The sixth USS Niagara (SP-136), later PY-9, was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1918 to 1931 and which served during World War I.

USS <i>Zircon</i> 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 Chestnut Hill (ID-2526) was a commercial tanker that served briefly with the United States Navy during World War I. The ship was ordered as Desdemona for British service but requisitioned by the United States Shipping Board (USSB) for U.S. service and renamed Chestnut Hill before completion. After commissioning and assignment to the Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS) the ship served as an escort and fueling ship for fleets of U.S. submarine chasers crossing the Atlantic.

USCGC <i>Lilac</i> US Coast Guard Buoy Tender

USCGC Lilac (WAGL/WLM-227) is a former Coast Guard buoy tender which is now a museum ship located in New York City. Lilac is America's only surviving steam-powered buoy tender, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<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>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.

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

USS Jade (PY-17), was a yacht in commission in the United States Navy as a Patrol Yacht from 1940 to 1945. The vessel was constructed as the yacht Athero II for Jesse Lauriston Livermore in 1926, then sold to Eldridge R. Johnson to be renamed Caroline until replaced by a much larger vessel, also named Caroline, in 1931. The smaller yacht was sold to Joseph M. Schenck of Los Angeles and New York, briefly, before being sold John R. Brinkley, M.D. of Del Rio, Texas, and renamed Doctor Brinkley. In 1940, the US Navy purchased her and renamed her Jade, after the ornamental mineral jade; she is the only Navy ship to bear this name.

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 Merchant Vessels of the United States, 1931. Washington, D.C.: Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of Navigation. 1931. pp. 820–821. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Naval History And Heritage Command (9 September 2015). "Siren III (PY-13)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History And Heritage Command. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  3. ↑ Pusey & Jones Corp. (4 March 1930). "Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Deeds and daughter. Contract 1043". Hagley Museum & Library. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  4. 1 2 Pacific American Steamship Association; Shipowners Association of the Pacific Coast (August 1930). "The Pusey & Jones Corp". Pacific Marine Review. San Francisco: J.S. Hines. Retrieved 23 October 2020.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ↑ Colton, Tim (12 September 2014). "Pusey & Jones, Wilmington DE". ShipbuildingHistory. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  6. ↑ Renstrom, Arthur George (September 2003). Wilbur & Orville Wright (PDF). Monographs in Aerospace History. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. p. 49. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "The Diesel Yacht Lotosland". MotorBoating. February 1931. pp. 90–91. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Pacific American Steamship Association; Shipowners Association of the Pacific Coast (August 1929). "Diesel Yacht Lotosland". Pacific Marine Review. San Francisco: J.S. Hines: 29. Retrieved 23 October 2020.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ↑ Basile, Salvatore (2014). Cool: How Air Conditioning Changed Everything. New York: Fordham University Press. ISBN   9780823261765. LCCN   2014941036 . Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  10. ↑ Carr, Ken (2008). "Did You Know . . " (PDF). NCR Retiree News. 12 (3). Germantown, Ohio: NCR REA, Inc.: 3. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  11. ↑ Pila, O. R. (14 December 1934). "Home Port of Seven Seas". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle: 21. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  12. ↑ "Yacht Organ" (PDF). The Core Memory Project. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  13. ↑ "Private Yacht Carries its Own Amphibian". Popular Aviation. Vol. 7, no. 2. Chicago: Aeronautical Publications, Inc. September 1930. p. 24. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  14. ↑ "S38" (PDF). NEAM News. Windsor Locks, Ct.: New England Air Museum. Fall 1994. p. 4. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  15. ↑ Appendix II — Vessels Containing Pig Lead Ballast (Report). United States. Congress. Senate. 5 August 1948. p. 25. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  16. ↑ Merchant Vessels of the United States, 1950. Washington, D.C.: Treasury Department, Bureau of Customs. 1950. p. 929. Retrieved 24 October 2020.

PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .

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.