USS Tasco (SP-502)

Tasco as a commercial tug, probably sometime between 1907 and 1917.
History
United States
Name:	USS Tasco
Namesake:	Previous name retained
Completed:	1907
Acquired:	4 August 1917
Commissioned:	29 September 1917
Struck:	22 May 1919
Fate:	Returned to owner 22 May 1919
Notes:	Operated as commercial tug Tasco 1907-1917 and from 1919
General characteristics
Type:	Minesweeper and patrol vessel
Tonnage:	319 gross register tons
Length:	109 ft (33 m)
Beam:	32 ft 4 in (9.86 m)
Draft:	12 ft (3.7 m) aft
Propulsion:	Steam engine
Speed:	10 knots
Complement:	16
Armament:	2 × 1-pounder guns

USS Tasco (SP-502), was a United States Navy minesweeper and patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.

Tasco was built as a commercial tug of the same name in 1907 at New London, Connecticut. The U.S. Navy acquired her from her owner, J. Shewan of Brooklyn, New York, on 4 August 1917 for use as a minesweeper and section patrol vessel during World War I. She was commissioned as USS Tasco (SP-502) on 29 September 1917.

Assigned to the 3rd Naval District, Tasco operated along the coastline in the New York City area for the remainder of World War I and into the spring of 1919.

Tasco was stricken from the Navy List on 22 May 1919 and returned to Shewan the same day.

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• Department of the Navy Naval History and Heritage Command Online Library of Selected Images: Civilian Ships: S.S. Tasco (American Salvage Tug, 1907). Served as USS Tasco (SP-502) in 1917-1919
• NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive: Tasco (SP 502)