PLEASE NOTE: Due to a prior commitment, the next ship will be posted on Tuesday, August 14. Thank You.
Figure
1: American Steam Yacht Margaret, 1899, at anchor off New
York City, prior to World War I. This yacht was commissioned on 16 October 1917
as USS Margaret (SP-527). She was sold on 30 September 1921. Photographed
by Edwin Levick, New York. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on
photograph for larger image.
Figure 2: USS Margaret (SP-527) leaving Bermuda for the Azores in November 1917. Photographed by Raymond D. Borden. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 3: USS Margaret (SP-527) underway at Bermuda in November 1917. Photographed by Raymond D. Borden. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 4: USS Margaret (SP-527) crewman throwing a heaving line to a French submarine chaser, preparatory to taking her in tow enroute from Newport, Rhode Island, to Bermuda in November 1917. Officer second from left is Margaret's Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander Frank Jack Fletcher. Fletcher went on to become one of the great American admirals of World War II. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 6:
USS May (SP-164) at Bermuda in November 1917. Photographed from
USS Margaret (SP-527). Courtesy of Raymond D. Borden. US Naval
Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 7: US Navy converted yachts and other small ships enroute from Bermuda to the Azores, November 1917. Photographed from USS Margaret (SP-527) by Raymond D. Borden. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 8: USS Cythera (SP-575) preparing to take USS Margaret (SP-527) in tow during their passage from Bermuda to the Azores in November 1917. She towed Margaret for thirteen of the seventeen days of this voyage. Another converted yacht is visible in the center distance. Photographed from on board Margaret by Raymond D. Borden. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 9: USS Wenonah (SP-165) steams through heavy seas while enroute from Bermuda to the Azores in November 1917. Photographed from USS Margaret (SP-527) by Raymond D. Borden. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 10: USS Wenonah (SP-165) seen from USS Margaret (SP-527) while steaming through heavy seas enroute from Bermuda to the Azores, November 1917. Photographed by Raymond D. Borden. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 11: US Navy converted yachts and other small ships enroute from Bermuda to the Azores in November 1917. The converted yacht in the center appears to be USS Wenonah (SP-165). Photographed from USS Margaret (SP-527) by Raymond D. Borden. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 12: USS Margaret (SP-527) upon arrival at Ponta Delgada, Azores, in December 1917, after seventeen days' passage from Bermuda. Note the worn condition of her paint. Photographed by Raymond D. Borden. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 13: USS Margaret (SP-527) at Horta, Fayal, Azores, in December 1917. Photographed by Raymond D. Borden. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 14: USS Margaret (SP-527) dressed with flags for George Washington's birthday, while anchored off Horta, Fayal, Azores, on 22 February 1918. Mount Pico is in the distance. Photographed by Raymond D. Borden. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 15: USS K-6 (Submarine No. 37) coming alongside USS Margaret (SP-527) at Horta, Fayal, Azores, in December 1917. Photographed by Raymond D. Borden. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 16: USS K-6 (Submarine No. 37) at Horta, Fayal, Azores, in December 1917. This photograph gives you a good idea of how small American submarines were during World War I. Photographed from USS Margaret (SP-527) by Raymond D. Borden. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 17: The American gunboat USS Galatea (SP-714) at Ponta Delgada, Azores, in February 1918. Photographed from USS Margaret (SP-527). Note Galatea's camouflage. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 18: USS Caldwell (Destroyer No. 69) taking on fuel oil from the French four-masted barque Quevilley, at Ponta Delgada, Azores, 27 February 1918. Caldwell appears to be painted in a Mackay low-visibility camouflage pattern. Photographed from USS Margaret (SP-527) by Raymond D. Borden. Quevilley was one of the world's few sailing oil tankers. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 19: USS Tonopah (Monitor No. 8) in the harbor at Ponta Delgada, Azores, in April 1918. She is painted in what appears to be Mackay-type camouflage. Photographed from USS Margaret (SP-527) by Raymond D. Borden. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 20: Ship's officers and crew posed on board USS Margaret (SP-527) while she was at Ponta Delgada, Azores, in February 1918. Lieutenant Commander Frank Jack Fletcher, her commanding officer, is in the center of the second row. Photographed by Raymond D. Borden. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 21: USS Margaret’s (SP-527) original officers, circa October 1917. Lieutenant Commander Frank Jack Fletcher, her commanding officer, is in the center. Photographed by Raymond D. Borden. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 22: Ship's officers stand by her binnacle, while USS Margaret (SP-527) was at Ponta Delgada, Azores, circa December 1917. Lieutenant Commander Frank Jack Fletcher, her commanding officer, is in the center. Photographed by Raymond D. Borden. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 23: USS Margaret’s (SP-527) Number Two (after) 3-inch gun and its crew, circa 1917-1918. Photographed by Raymond D. Borden. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 24: Watertender "Jack" (or "Pop") Dalton, USN, wearing his medals on board USS Margaret (SP-527), circa 1917-1918. Photographed by Raymond D. Borden. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 25: USS Margaret’s (SP-527) commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Frank Jack Fletcher (standing in Margaret's gig), leaving his ship to take command of a destroyer, at Ponta Delgada, Azores, 1 March 1918. Photographed by Raymond D. Borden. Note camouflage pattern on the ship in the left background. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Built in 1899 by the famous shipbuilder John Roach & Sons at
Chester, Pennsylvania, as the private steam yacht Eugenia, this 245-ton vessel
changed ownership and became Marjorie before finally being called Margaret
shortly before World War I. The ship was taken over by the US Navy in
August 1917 and, after being converted into a gunboat, was commissioned on 16 October
1917 as USS Margaret (SP-527). Her first commanding officer was
Lieutenant Commander Frank Jack Fletcher, who would go on to become one of the
great American admirals of World War II, especially during the battles of the
Coral Sea and Midway. Technical details about Margaret are a bit sketchy,
but we do know that she was approximately 176 feet long and 21 feet wide and
was armed with at least two 3-inch guns (one forward and one aft). Gunboats
like this usually carried several smaller-caliber guns as well. The exact
number of her crew is not known, but a photograph of the entire crew shows
roughly 62 officers and men, which sounds about right for a ship that size.
On 4 November 1917, Margaret and several other US Navy ships
left fashionable Newport, Rhode Island, for the first part of what ended up
being an incredible journey across the Atlantic. During this phase of the trip,
Margaret sailed with the tender USS Hannibal, along with five
other yachts converted to patrol vessels: USS Helenita (SP-210), USS May
(SP-164), USS Rambler (SP-211), USS Utowana (SP-951), and USS Wenonah
(SP-165). Each of the six former yachts towed an American-built French
submarine chaser, 110-foot boats which did not have the range for long trips.
Although Helenita, Margaret, May, and Utowana all
broke down along the way, the little flotilla managed to reach Hamilton, Bermuda,
on 9 November.
After the ships were repaired and refueled, the small task force left
Bermuda on 18 November 1917 and was bound for the Azores. Helenita and Utowana
stayed in Bermuda, but their absence was made up by the addition of three more
ex-yachts: Artemis (SP-593), Cythera (SP-575), and Lydonia
(SP-700). The French submarine chasers
were also still being towed by the ships. But while leaving Bermuda, Wenonah
broke down and had to be towed by May and, soon afterwards, Margaret’s
engine quit on her and she had to be towed by Cythera. Margaret was
pulled along for most of what turned out to be a very stormy passage. The bad
weather made towing both the crippled gunboats and the submarine chasers
extremely difficult and dangerous. At any given moment a tow line could part,
leaving Margaret and any of the other vessels stranded in the stormy
seas. But the ships kept plodding along and finally on 5 December, after 17
days at sea, they arrived at the port of Horta on the Azores island of Fayal. Most,
if not all of the ships, soon proceeded to nearby Ponta Delgada and some of
them, Margaret not included, left for Gibraltar later in December. The
entire voyage demonstrated how unpredictable and unreliable many of these
former yachts were, especially when subjected to the rigorous demands of
wartime naval service.
Margaret’s
mechanical difficulties were so serious that she remained in the Azores for the
rest of the war, occasionally patrolling the waters around the Azores. Margaret
returned to the United States following the end of the war on 11 November 1918.
That she made it back at all is in and of itself a minor miracle, given how
unreliable her engine was. USS Margaret was decommissioned in November
1918 and was eventually sold on 30 September 1921. Her final fate is unknown.
Some ex-yachts like Margaret proved to be excellent gunboats,
but many of them suffered from mechanical problems and were difficult to handle
in the open sea, especially in bad weather. This is not surprising since none
of these yachts were designed to be warships, let alone meant to stay at sea
for weeks on end. These were mainly coastal yachts that were built for short
trips and pleasure cruising, not for hunting German submarines in the stormy
Atlantic Ocean. But the mere fact that the Navy grabbed all of these ships at
the start of the war shows how desperate it was for patrol and escort vessels.
They were poor substitutes for real warships, but they did provide
inexperienced crews an opportunity to learn their sea-going skills under
wartime conditions. USS Margaret didn’t see any combat, but one has to
believe that Lieutenant Commander (later admiral) Frank Jack Fletcher became a
better sailor and a much more experienced naval officer because of his time on
board Margaret.
