USS Manatee (SP-51)
The first USS Manatee (SP-51) was an armed motorboat that served as a United States Navy patrol vessel from 1917 until sometime shortly after World War I.
| History | |
|---|---|
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| Name: | USS Manatee |
| Namesake: | Previous name retained |
| Builder: | Graves Yacht Yard, Marblehead, Massachusetts |
| Completed: | 1915 |
| Acquired: | 21 April 1917 |
| Commissioned: | 23 April 1917 |
| Stricken: | By 1 July 1920 |
| Notes: | In private use as motorboat Manatee 1915-1917 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Patrol vessel |
| Tonnage: | 2 tons |
| Length: | 35 ft (11 m) |
| Beam: | 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) |
| Draft: | 2 ft 3 in (0.69 m) |
| Propulsion: | Gasoline engine |
| Speed: | 22 knots |
| Complement: | 4 |
| Armament: | 1 × 1-pounder gun |
Manatee was built in 1915 for Lawrence F. Percival of the Corinthian Yacht Club of Boston as a wooden-hulled, gasoline-powered private motorboat of the same name designed by Samuel H. Brown of Marblehead, Massachusetts and built by Graves of Marblehead, Massachusetts. Percival sold the boat to J.B. Fallon in Fall of 1916. The U.S. Navy acquired her for World War I service from her owner, J. B. Fallon, on 21 April 1917, and commissioned her as patrol boat USS Manatee (SP-51) on 23 April 1917.
Manatee was assigned to "distant service" in European waters, where she supported a flying boat detachment through the end of World War I.
Records of Manatee's status after the Armistice with Germany of 11 November 1918 are lacking, but she presumably returned to the United States for decommissioning and disposal. As of 1 July 1920 her name no longer appeared on the Navy List.
External links
- Photo gallery at navsource.org
- Photo of Manatee in "The Rudder" 1917, v33,p404, Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=mS0jAQAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
- The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts), 20 Sept 1915, p6, reports that "...Commodore Lawrence F. Percival's new speed boat Manatee..." was the winner of a power boat race hosted by the Gloucester Yacht Club. Manatee was designed by Sam Brown of Marblehead and built in Marblehead, Massachusetts by Graves.
- Ships' Data U.S. Naval Vessels, 1919, lists Manatee as being built by Brown Bros., with former owner J.B. Fallon. The use "Brown Bros" seems to have caused confusion about the builder since the designer was Samuel Brown of Marblehead, MA, according to a contemporary article in The Boston Globe. Samuel had a brother William (Bill), so likely the origin of "Brown Bros" and thus the mistaken attribution to A.C. Brown & Sons of Tottenville, N.Y. The builder was Graves of Marblehead, MA. Source is Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=EOFHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA367&dq=brown+brothers+boat+builders+new+york+manatee&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjDxNP9gY7nAhVOlKwKHQqcAgkQ6AEwAHoECAUQAg#v=onepage&q=brown%20brothers%20boat%20builders%20new%20york%20manatee&f=false