USS Liberty III (SP-1229)

USS Liberty III (SP-1229), sometimes written Liberty # 3 and also referred to during her naval career as Liberty and as #3 Pilot Boat, was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.

For other ships with the same name, see Liberty (ship).
Liberty III as a civilian schooner-rigged pilot boat, probably around the time of her acquisition by the United States Navy in September 1917.
History
United States
Name: USS Liberty III
Namesake: Previous name retained
Builder: John Bishop, Gloucester, Massachusetts
Completed: 1896
Acquired: 10 September 1917
Commissioned: 20[1] or 21[2] September 1917
Decommissioned: 8 January 1919
Fate: Returned to owner 8 January 1919
Notes: Operated as civilian schooner-rigged pilot boat Liberty III 1896-1917 and from 1919
General characteristics
Type: Patrol vessel
Tonnage: 96 gross tons
Length: 100 ft (30 m)[3] or 103 ft (31 m)[4]
Beam: 24 ft (7.3 m)
Draft: 12 ft 5 in (3.78 m)
Propulsion: Sails plus auxiliary engine
Sail plan: Schooner-rigged
Speed: 8.5 knots
Complement: 10
Armament: None

Liberty III was built as a civilian schooner-rigged pilot boat of the same name in 1896 by John Bishop at Gloucester, Massachusetts. On 10 September 1917 the U.S. Navy acquired her under a free lease from her owner, the Boston Pilots Relief Society, for use as a section patrol boat during World War I. She was enrolled in the Naval Coast Defense Reserve on 15 September 1917 and commissioned on 20[5] or 21[6] September 1917 as USS Liberty III (SP-1229) with Ensign Murdoch McLean, USNRF, in command.

Assigned to the 1st Naval District in northern New England and based at Boston, Massachusetts, Liberty III served for the rest of World War I as a harbor entrance patrol boat, guiding the movements of ships that navigated the defensive sea area of the port of Boston.

The Navy decommissioned Liberty III on 8 January 1919 and returned her to the Boston Pilots Relief Society the same day.

Notes
  1. Department of the Navy Naval History and Heritage Command Online Library of Selected Images: Civilian Ships: Liberty # 3 (Pilot Boat Schooner, 1896). Served as USS Liberty # 3 (SP-1229) in 1917-1919.
  2. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/l6/liberty_iii.htm and NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive Liberty III (SP 1229).
  3. NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive Liberty III (SP 1229).
  4. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/l6/liberty_iii.htm.
  5. Department of the Navy Naval History and Heritage Command Online Library of Selected Images: Civilian Ships: Liberty # 3 (Pilot Boat Schooner, 1896). Served as USS Liberty # 3 (SP-1229) in 1917-1919.
  6. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/l6/liberty_iii.htm and NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive Liberty III (SP 1229).
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References
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