USS Content (SP-538)

USS Content (SP-538) was a motorboat that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919.

USS Content at anchor in a New England harbor in mid-1917.
History
United States
Name:	USS Content
Completed:	1912
Acquired:	1917
Commissioned:	22 May 1917
Decommissioned:	30 January 1919
Fate:	Returned to owner 3 February 1919
Notes:	Operated as private motorboat Dolph II and Content 1912-1917
General characteristics
Type:	Patrol vessel
Length:	74 ft 0 in (22.56 m)
Beam:	13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
Draft:	4 ft 8 in (1.42 m)
Speed:	10 knots
Armament:	1 × 1-pounder gun

Content was built in 1912 at Port Clinton, Ohio as the civilian pleasure craft Dolph II. She was later renamed Content.

USS Content (SP-538) (left center background) exercising at Rockland Section Base, Rockland, Maine, in 1918 with patrol vessels USS Orca (SP-726) (center) and USS Kangaroo (SP-1284) (astern of Orca) and various small boats.

After the United States entered World War I, the U.S. Navy chartered Content for use as a patrol vessel. She was commissioned as USS Content (SP-538) on 22 May 1917 with Boatswain W. F. Jordan, USNRF, in command. She was assigned to the 1st Naval District, where she patrolled in defense of coastal waters in northern New England through the end of the war.

Content was decommissioned on 30 January 1919. On 3 February 1919 she was returned to her owner.

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• Department of the Navy: Naval Historical Center: Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships: USS Content (SP-538), 1917-1919. Previously the civilian motor boat Dolph II (1912) and Content
• NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive Content (SP 538)