HMCS Hochelaga was a steam yacht that was converted into a Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) patrol ship. She was built in Scotland, and launched in 1900 as Waturus for Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria. He sold her to a US buyer in 1902, who sold her to the Canadian Government in 1915. She was converted into an armed yacht, renamed Hochelaga, and patrolled the Atlantic coast of Canada. She was in naval service until 1920, when she was offered for sale. From 1923 to 1942 Hochelaga was a ferry linking Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. From 1943 to 1945 the United Fruit Company used her in the sugar trade with Puerto Rico. In 1946 she was renamed HaChayal Ha'Ivri, although officially she remained registered as Hochelaga. As HaChayal Ha'Ivri she tried to take Jewish emigrants from Belgium to Palestine, but was stopped by the Royal Navy. By 1951 she was registered under the Panamanian flag of convenience. Lloyd's Register still listed her in 1959.
Kanawha was a steam yacht that was built in 1899. She was built for a member of the New York Yacht Club (NYYC), to replace a previous yacht of the same name. Henry Huttleston Rogers of Standard Oil bought her in 1901, and owned her until his death in 1909. The United States Navy used her as a patrol vessel in the First World War from 1917 to 1919. Marcus Garvey's Black Star Line acquired her in 1919 and renamed her Antonio Maceo.
USS Wabash (ID-1824) was a cargo steamship. She was launched in Germany in 1900 for DDG „Hansa“ as Wartburg. In 1905 Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL) bought her and renamed her Tübingen. In 1917 the United States seized her and renamed her Seneca. In 1918 she was commissioned into the United States Navy as USS Wabash. She was scrapped in Italy in 1924.
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. and in 1900 she was purchased by Evans R Dick of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and renamed Elsa. 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.
USS Kanawha II (SP-130), later called USS Piqua (SP-130), was a steam yacht that was built in 1899, and which the United States Navy used as an armed yacht in the First World War. She was commissioned in 1917 as Kanawha II, with the "II" added probably to distinguish her from the oiler USS Kanawha (AO-1). She was renamed Piqua in 1918, probably for the same reason.
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 Emeline (SP-175) was a steam yacht acquired by the United States Navy in World War I. She was outfitted with military equipment, including 3-inch guns, and was commissioned as a patrol craft, assigned to protect shipping in the North Atlantic Ocean. She saved the lives of survivors of shipwrecks, and provided escort protection from German submarines for commercial ships. Post-war she was sold to the highest bidder, who had the yacht sail to San Diego, California, for delivery.
USS Corona (SP-813) was a steel-hulled steam yacht that was launched in Scotland in 1905 as Corona. In 1917 the United States Navy had her converted into an armed yacht. She was based in France until 1918, and then in reserve in Connecticut. In 1921 she was sold back into civilian use. In 1928 she was re-registered in Peru, where she became a merchant ship. She sank off the Peruvian coast in 1941.
USS Margaret (SP-524) was a steam yacht that was built in 1913. She was a United States Navy armed yacht from 1917 until 1919, when she was transferred to the United States Department of War. She was later sold back into civilian ownership, and was still registered as a merchant vessel in 1933.
USS Wakiva II (SP-160) was a steel-hulled steam yacht that was built in Scotland for Lamon V. Harkness in 1907, and converted into an armed yacht in 1917. She was a United States Navy convoy escort from Brest, France from October 1917. That November she attacked and almost certainly sank an enemy U-boat. She was sunk in May 1918 by a collision that killed two of her crew.
USS Relief (SP-2170) was a salvage tug that was built in Delaware in 1907 and scrapped in 1953. She served in the United States Navy in the First World War from 1918 to 1919, and provided civilian support to the Navy in the Second World War from 1942 to 1945. She belonged to the Merritt & Chapman Derrick & Wrecking Co, which in the 1920s became Merritt-Chapman & Scott. She rescued the steam yacht Warrior in 1914, and survived a collision with a US Navy patrol vessel in 1918.
The third USS Wanderer (SP-132), was an armed yacht that served in the United States Navy 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.
Aphrodite was a steam yacht that was launched in 1898. When completed in 1899 she was the largest steam yacht yet built in the US. In 1917 she was commissioned into the United States Navy as the patrol vessel USS Aphrodite (SP-135). She was based in France from 1917 to 1918; in England from 1918 to 1919; and then returned to her private owner.
The second USS Emerald (SP-177) was a steam yacht that served as an armed yacht in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1918.
HMS Warrior was a steel-hulled steam yacht that was launched in Scotland in 1904. Her first owner was Frederick William Vanderbilt. One of his cousins, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, owned her for a few months before he was killed in the sinking of RMS Lusitania. She passed through several owners. She was renamed Wayfarer in 1914, Warrior again in 1915, Goizeko-Izarra in 1920, Warrior again in 1937, and Warrior II in 1939. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy in both world wars, and evacuated Republican child refugees in the Spanish Civil War.
USS Bagheera (SP-963) was a United States Navy auxiliary schooner that served as a patrol vessel. She was in commission from 1917 to 1919.
HMS Tuscarora was a steam yacht that was launched in Scotland in 1897 as Tuscarora. In 1911 she was renamed Goizeko-Izarra, and in 1922 her name was changed back to Tuscarora. In 1940 the Admiralty requisitioned her; had her converted into an anti-submarine training ship; and commissioned her as HMS Tuscarora. She spent the war based at Campbeltown on the west coast of Scotland. In 1946 the Ministry of Transport sold her, and she was converted into a merchant ship. She was renamed Anatoli in 1946, Evgenia in 1952, and Alhelal in 1968. She sank in the Red Sea in 1968.
United States
