USS Ranger (SP-237)

USS SP-237, formerly USS Ranger (SP-237), in icy waters near New York City 1918 or 1919.
Career (United States)
Name: USS Ranger (1917-1918)
USS SP-237 (1918-1919)
Namesake: As Ranger, a wanderer, or military scout (previous name retained)
SP-237 was her section patrol number
Builder: Robert Jacob Shipyard, City Island
Cost: $80,000 (USD) at time of construction
Completed: 1910
Acquired: 22 June 1917
Commissioned: 9 October 1917
Decommissioned: 28 April 1919
Struck: 4 September 1931
Fate: Transferred to United States Coast and Geodetic Survey 28 April 1919
Returned to U.S. Navy 26 November 1930[1] or 31 January 1931[2]
Sold 21 December 1931
Registered in Panama 1932
Notes: Served as civilian yacht Thomas Slocum and Ranger 1910-1917
General characteristics
Type:Patrol vessel
Tonnage:219 gross tons
Displacement:149 tons
Length:133 ft 6 in (40.69 m)
Beam:22 ft 0 in (6.71 m)
Draft:7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Propulsion:Steam engine
Speed:13 knots
Complement:45
Armament:4 x 6-pounder guns
For other ships of the same name, see USS Ranger.

The fifth USS Ranger (SP-237) was United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.

Ranger as a civilian yacht sometime between 1910 and 1916, prior to her U.S. Navy service.

Ranger was built as the steam-driven, steel-hulled yacht Thomas Slocum by Robert Jacob Shipyard at City Island, Bronx, New York, in 1910. She later was renamed Ranger. The U.S. Navy purchased Ranger from her owner, T.W. Slocum of New York City, on 22 June 1917 for World War I service as a patrol vessel and commissioned her as USS Ranger (SP-237) on 9 October 1917 with Lieutenant J. J. Smith, USNRF, in command.

Assigned to the 3rd Naval District, Ranger operated as a section patrol craft in the New York City area. She was renamed USS SP-237 in 1918.

SP-237 was decommissioned on 28 April 1919 and transferred to the Department of Commerce for use by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. She served with the Survey as USC&GS Ranger until either 26 November 1930[3] or 31 January 1931,[4] when she was returned to the U.S. Navy. She was stricken from the Navy List on 4 September 1931 and sold on 21 December 1931.

In 1932, registry of the vessel was transferred to Panama.

Ranger should not be confused with USS Ranger (SP-369), a coastal minesweeper also in commission during World War I, or USS Ranger (CC-4), a battlecruiser proposed during World War I but never completed.

Notes

  1. ↑ Per the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/r2/ranger-v.htm) and NavSource Online (at http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/170237.htm).
  2. ↑ Per the Naval History and Heritage Command Online Library of Selected Images (at http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-r/sp237.htm).
  3. ↑ Per the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/r2/ranger-v.htm) and NavSource Online (at http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/170237.htm).
  4. ↑ Per the Naval History and Heritage Command Online Library of Selected Images (at http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-r/sp237.htm).

References