USS Marpessa (SP-787)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name: | USS Marpessa |
| Namesake: | Previous name retained |
| Builder: | Mathis Yacht Building Company, Camden, New Jersey |
| Completed: | 1916 |
| Acquired: | 18 August 1917 |
| Commissioned: | 1 October 1917 |
| Fate: | Returned to owner 7 January 1919 |
| Notes: | Operated as private motorboat Marpessa 1916-1917 and from 1919 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Patrol vessel |
| Tonnage: | 17 gross tons |
| Length: | Unknown[1] |
| Beam: | 10 ft 1 in (3.07 m) |
| Draft: | 3 ft (0.91 m) |
| Propulsion: | Twin internal combustion engines |
| Speed: | 20 knots |
| Complement: | 11 |
| Armament: | 1 × machine gun |
USS Marpessa (SP-787) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
Marpessa was built in 1916 as a private, twin-engine wooden motorboat of the same name by the Mathis Yacht Building Company at Camden, New Jersey. On 18 August 1917, the U.S. Navy acquired her from her owner, W. J. Matheson of Camden, for use as a section patrol boat during World War I. She was enrolled in the Naval Coast Defense Reserve on 8 September 1917 and commissioned as USS Marpessa (SP-787) on 1 October 1917 with Ensign H. W. Mathewson, USNRF, in command.
Assigned to the 7th Naval District and based at Marathon, Florida, Marpessa patrolled the southern Atlantic coast of Florida for the rest of World War I.
Marpessa was returned to Matheson on 7 January 1919.
Notes
- ↑ The only source to provide her length, the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m5/marpessa.htm) has a typographical error giving her length as 10 inches (0.25 meter).
References
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
- SP-787 Marpessa at Department of the Navy Naval History and Heritage Command Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships -- Listed by Hull Number "SP" #s and "ID" #s -- World War I Era Patrol Vessels and other Acquired Ships and Craft numbered from SP-700 through SP-799
- NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive Marpessa (SP 787)