USS Resolute (SP-1309)

Career (United States)
Name: USS Resolute
Namesake: Resolute: marked by firm determination; resolved (previous name retained)
Builder: Great Lakes Engineering Company, Ashtabula, Ohio
Completed: 1916
Acquired: 8 August 1918
Commissioned: 10 September 1918
Decommissioned: 15 May 1919
Fate: Sold 15 May 1919
Notes: In commercial service as SS Sarah E. McWilliams and SS Resolute 1916-1918 and as SS Resolute 1919-1955
Scrapped 1955
General characteristics
Type:Tug
Tonnage:453 tons
Length:135 ft (41 m) between perpendiculars
Beam:30 ft (9.1 m)
Draft:14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)
Propulsion:Steam engine
Speed:12 knots
Complement:55
For other ships of the same name, see USS Resolute.

Note: This ship should not be confused with the fourth USS Resolute (SP-3218) or fifth USS Resolute (SP-3003), which were in commission at the same time.

The third USS Resolute (SP-1309) was a tug that served in the United States Navy from 1918 to 1919.

Resolute, was built as the commercial wooden-hulled salvage tug SS Sarah E. McWilliams during 1916 by Great Lakes Engineering Company at Ashtabula, Ohio. She had been renamed SS Resolute by the time the U.S. Navy purchased her for World War I service from her owner, Merritt and Chapman Company of New York City on 8 August 1918. She was commissioned on 10 September 1918 as USS Resolute (SP-1309) with Lieutenant, junior grade William E. Marcyes, USNRF, in command.

Resolute was based at the Central District Salvage Station at Stapleton on Staten Island, New York, throughout her U.S. Navy career. She performed local towing duty, took part in several salvage operations, and assisted in patrolling the local anchorages.

Decommissioned on 15 May 1919, Resolute was sold to her former owner the same day and returned to mercantile service. She remained in mercantile service until scrapped in 1955.

During early 1942 Resolute again served the U.S. Navy, operating for several months as a commercial tug under a charter to perform salvage work on the United States East Coast.

References