USC&GS Mikawe

USC&GS Mikawe was a United States Coast and Geodetic Survey launch in commission from 1920 to 1939.

USC&GS Mikawe
USC&GS Mikawe at Norfolk, Virginia on 4 July 1928, dressed overall for Independence Day.
History
United States
Name
  • Mikawe (1916-1917)
  • USS Mikawe (SP-309) (1917-1919)
  • USC&GS Mikawe (1919-1939)
NamesakePrevious name retained
BuilderDefoe Boat and Motor Works, Bay City, Michigan
Completed1916
Acquired24 April 1919
Commissioned1920
FateDestroyed by fire 27 October 1939
General characteristics
TypeLaunch
Length64.5 ft (19.7 m)
Beam14 ft (4.3 m)
Draft5.5 ft (1.7 m)
Installed power75 hp (56 kW) Gasoline engine
PropulsionGasoline engine
Speed11.6 knots
Armament

Mikawe was built as a civilian wooden-hulled motorboat of the same name in 1916 by Defoe Boat and Motor Works at Bay City, Michigan. From 1917 to 1919, she served in the United States Navy was an armed motorboat used as the patrol vessel and called USS Mikawe (SP-309). The U.S. Navy purchased her from her owner, Thomas H. Gill, for $12,500 (USD) on 10 August 1917 for World War I service and commissioned her on the same day. Assigned to the 9th Naval District—at the time a part of the single administrative entity known as the 9th, 10th, and 11th Naval Districts -- Mikawe served as a section patrol boat on the Great Lakes for the rest of World War I.[1][2][3]

On 24 April 1919,[Note 1] Mikawe was transferred to the Coast and Geodetic Survey. Placed in service in 1920, she served along the United States East Coast during her Survey career. In the late 1920s, she served as a training ship for Coast and Geodetic Survey deck officers.

Mikawe was destroyed by fire while taking on gasoline on 27 October 1939 in Norfolk, Virginia. Clement A. Bennett was killed with Lieutenant Max G. Ricketts, Anon J. Small, William D. Bennett, Elton E. Mooney, and Issac R. Jones being seriously injured.[5]

Notes
  1. The NOAA History Web site claims she was acquired from the Navy sometime in 1920; presumably the NOAA site is confusing her transfer date with the date on which she entered Coast and Geodetic Survey service.[4]

References
  1. This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
  2. Department of the Navy: Naval Historical Center: Online Library of Selected Images: Civilian Ships: Mikawe (Motor Boat, 1916). Served as USS Mikawe (SP-309) in 1917-1919
  3. NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive Mikawe (SP 309)
  4. "Mikawe". Coast & Geodetic Survey Ships. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 2012-12-30.
  5. Director, United States Coast And Geodetic Survey (1940). Annual Report of the Director, United States Coast and Geodetic Survey to the Secretary of Commerce for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1940 (pdf). Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. pp. 120–121. Retrieved 2012-02-28.
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