USC&GS Lydonia |
|
| Career (United States) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Lydonia |
| Namesake: | Commemorated the Lydon family |
| Builder: | Pusey and Jones, Wilmington, Delaware |
| Completed: | 1912[1] |
| Commissioned: | 1919 |
| Decommissioned: | 1947 |
| Notes: | Served as private yacht Lydonia 1912-1917 and as United States Navy patrol vessel USS Lydonia (SP-700) 1917-1919 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Survey ship |
| Length: | 180.5 ft (55.0 m) |
| Beam: | 26 ft (7.9 m) |
| Draft: | 11.5 ft (3.5 m) |
| Propulsion: | Steam engine |
USC&GS Lydonia was a survey ship that served in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in from 1919 to 1947.
Lydonia was built in 1912[1] by Pusey and Jones at Wilmington, Delaware, as a private yacht for William A. Lydon. From 1917 to 1919, she served in the United States Navy as the patrol vessel USS Lydonia (SP-700).
Lydonia was transferred to the Coast and Geodetic Survey at Norfolk, Virginia, on 7 August 1919 and became USC&GS Lydonia (CS 302). She served primarily along the United States East Coast and in the Atlantic Ocean while with the Survey, but did see service in the Pacific Ocean early in her career.
On several occasions during her long career, Lydonia assisted mariners in distress. On 7 August 1921, she assisted in helping survivors and searching for bodies in the wreck of the steamboat SS Alaska on Blunt's Reef off the coast of northern California. On 17 January 1927, she came to the aid of the United States Coast Guard Cutter USCGC Modoc (WPG-46), which was aground at the entrance to the Cape Fear River in North Carolina, joining a tug in refloating Modoc at high tide. In May 1927, she and the survey ship USC&GS Hydrographer were sent to Memphis, Tennessee, to help victims of the great Mississippi River flood of that year.
On 23 August 1933, she was with the Coast and Geodetic Survey survey ships USC&GS Oceanographer (OSS-26) and USC&GS Gilbert at Norfolk, Virginia, when the 1933 Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane struck; the three ships handled considerable radio traffic for the Norfolk area, including U.S. Navy traffic, during the storm. On 24 April 1935, she directed the United States Coast Guard to the fishing trawler Malolo, which was disabled off the coast of Virginia. And in January 1937, Coast and Geodetic Survey personnel from her crew and from that of Oceanographer were detached to join three Coast and Geodetic Survey launches at Kenova, West Virginia, where they performed flood relief work under the direction of the Red Cross.
Lydonia was retired from Coast and Geodetic Survey service in 1947.