USS Lady Thorne (SP-962)

Career (United States)
Name: USS Lady Thorne
Namesake: Previous name retained
Completed: 1908
Acquired: 22 June 1917
Commissioned: 1917
Decommissioned: 1 March 1918
Fate: Returned to owner 1 March 1918
Notes: Operated as private motorboat Lady Thorne until 1917 and from 1918
General characteristics
Type: Patrol vessel
Length: 44 ft (13 m)
Beam: 10 ft (3.0 m)
Draft: 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Propulsion: Gasoline engine
Speed: 9.5 miles per hour[1] or 9.5 knots[2]
Complement: 4
Armament: 1 x 1-pounder gun

USS Lady Thorne (SP-962) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1918.

Lady Thorne was built as a private motorboat of the same name in 1908. On 22 June 1917, the U.S. Navy acquired her from her owner, R. C. Lamb of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, for use as a section patrol boat during World War I. She was enrolled in the Naval Coast Defense Reserve and commissioned as USS Lady Thorne (SP-962), with Chief Boatswain’s Mate Eugene L. de High, USNRF, in command.

Assigned to the 5th Naval District, Lady Thorne served on patrol duties for the next several months.

Lady Thorne was decommissioned on 1 March 1918 and returned to Lamb the same day.

Notes

  1. ^ The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/l1/lady_thorne.htm give Seatag's speed as "9.5 mi," implying statute miles per hour, an unusual unit of measure for the speed of a watercraft. It is possible that her speed actually was 9.5 knots. If 9.5 statute miles per hour is accurate, the equivalent in knots is 8.25.
  2. ^ NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive Lady Thorne (SP 962); this probably represents NavSource Online's attempt to interpret the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships' reference to "9.5 mi."

References