USS Helianthus (SP-585)

USC&GS Helianthus in northern waters, outfitted with an antenna wire for radio acoustic ranging operations
History
United States Navy
Name: USS Helianthus
Namesake: Helianthus, the genus to which sunflowers belong (previous name retained)
Builder: Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, Bristol, Rhode Island
Completed: 1912
Acquired: 11 June 1917
Commissioned: 6 July 1917
Fate: Transferred to United States Coast and Geodetic Survey 28 March 1919
Notes: In use as private motorboat Helianthus 1912–1917
U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
Name: USC&GS Helianthus
Namesake: Previous name retained
Acquired: 28 March 1919
Commissioned: 1919
Decommissioned: 1939
Fate: Sold 1939
General characteristics (as U.S. Navy vessel)
Type: Patrol vessel
Displacement: 37 tons
Length: 64 ft (20 m)
Beam: 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
Draft: 3 ft 3 in (0.99 m)
Propulsion: Gasoline engine
Speed: 10 knots
Armament: 1 × 1-pounder gun
General characteristics (as U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey vessel)
Type: Survey launch
Length: 64 ft (20 m)
Beam: 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
Draft: 4 ft (1.2 m)

USS Helianthus (SP-585) was a patrol vessel in commission in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919, seeing service in World War I. After her U.S. Navy service, she was in commission in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey as the survey launch USC&GS Helianthus from 1919 to 1939. She was named after the Helianthus, the genus to which the sunflower belongs.[1]

Construction

Helianthus was built as a private motorboat of the same name in 1912 at Bristol, Rhode Island, by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Company.[2]

United States Navy service, 1917–1919

USC&GS Helianthus in Alaskan waters, ca. 1925. She flies the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey flag from her mast and the national ensign at her stern.

The U.S. Navy acquired Helianthus from her owner, N. A. Herreshoff, on 11 June 1917 for World War I service as a patrol vessel and commissioned her on 6 July 1917 as USS Helianthus (SP-585) with Boatswain T. H. Rich in command.[2][3]

Helianthus was assigned to section patrol duty in the 2nd Naval District during World War I. She operated on harbor patrol and harbor entrance patrol in Narragansett Bay and at Newport, Rhode Island.[2]

Helianthus collided with the fishing vessel T.H.C. on 12 June 1918 off Warren, Rhode Island. The owner of T.H.C., the Warren Oyster Company, filed for $3,840.56 in damages, but was granted only $50.00 in compensation by the United States Congress.[4][note 1]

United States Coast and Geodetic Survey service, 1919–1939

The U.S. Navy transferred Helianthus to the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey on 28 March 1919.[3][5] Commissioned as USC&GS Helianthus, she served as a survey launch during her years with the Coast and Geodetic Survey, conducting hydrographic survey work primarily in the waters of the Territory of Alaska.[6] The Survey sold her in 1939, and her subsequent fate is unknown.[3]

Notes

  1. ↑ A message was sent to the United States House of Representatives saying:
    SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith, for the consideration of Congress, in accordance with the provisions of the act of June 24, 1910 (Stat., p. 607), a communication from the acting secretary of the Navy of the 20th instant, submitting an estimate of appropriation, in the sum of $3,840.56, to pay for claims of damages by naval vessels adjusted by the Navy Department.
    — Carter Glass, Congressional Edition Volume 7645
    The Speaker of the House of Representatives responded, writing:
    SIR: This department has considered, ascertained, adjusted, and determined the respective amounts due to claimants on account of damages for which vessels of the United States Navy were found to be responsible in the following described instances:
    • 1. The owner of the boat T. H. C. for damages sustained by said boat as a result of a collision with the U. S. S. Helianthus S. P. 585, at Warren, R.I. on June 12, 1918, $50. The correspondence in the department indicates that the owner of the boat T. H. C. is the Warren Oyster Co. of Warren R. I.
      — Frederick H. Gillett, Congressional Edition Volume 7645

References

  1. ↑ Sunset Western Garden Book. Leisure Arts. 1995. pp. 606–607.
  2. 1 2 3 "Helianthus (S. P. 585)". www.history.navy.mil. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 "Helianthus (SP 585)". www.navsource.org. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  4. ↑ Congressional Edition, Volume 7645. University of California: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1919.
  5. ↑ Silverstone, Paul (2013). The New Navy, 1883–1922. Routledge. p. 217. ISBN 9781135865436.
  6. ↑ "NOAA History – Tools of the Trade/Ships/C&GS Ships/HELIANTHUS". www.history.noaa.gov. Retrieved 6 November 2016.

External links

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