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Patrol Yacht Photo Archive

Isabel (PY 10)
ex-SP-521



Call sign:
November - Alpha - Sierra - Golf
Patrol Yacht: Laid down in 1917 as the steam yacht Isabel by Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine for John Willys North; Launched, 7 June 1917; Purchased by the Navy 3 July 1917; Delivered 11 August 1917; Commissioned USS Isabel (SP 521), 28 December 1917; Decommissioned 30 April 1920 at Philadelphia, PA; Reclassified as a Patrol Yacht, PY-10, 17 July 1920; Recommissioned 18 July 1921; Decommissioned 11 February 1946; Sold for scrap 25 March 1946.

Specifications: Displacement 710 t; Length 245' 3"; Beam 27' 9"; Draft 8' 6"; Speed 26 kts; Complement 99; Armament two 3"/50 dual purpose mounts, eight smaller; Propulsion two Normand express boilers, two geared Parsons turbines, 8,400shp, two shafts.

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USS Isabel (SP 521)
Isabel 87k USS Yacona (SP-617) at the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, circa December 1917, painted in pattern camouflage. Yacht Isabel, then being prepared for service as USS Isabel (SP-521), is on the other side of the pier from Yacona. Steamers in the background are Aroostook (ID 1256), formerly S.S. Bunker Hill and Massachusetts, which became USS Shawmut
(ID 1255).
U.S. Navy photo NH 102576		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 79k Off the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts, on 31 December 1917, following conversion to a warship.
U.S. Navy photo NH 544		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 82k At sea on 29 June 1918, photographed from USS Fairmont (ID 2429) by crewmember Grant S. Ray.
Collection of Grant S. Ray.
U.S. Navy photo NH 99739		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 90k Making smoke while underway, circa 1919.
U.S. Navy photo NH 53275		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 143k Key West Naval Station, Florida. Photographed in 1919, with camouflage patterns on some buildings. Ships at piers are USS Castine (Gunboat # 6), at left, and USS Isabel (SP-521) at right.
Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, 1969.
U.S. Navy photo NH 68764		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 154k Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania. Destroyers and other ships at the Yard in March 1919, awaiting decommissioning. Identifiable ships include: USS Iowa (Battleship # 4), at far left; USS Isabel (later PY-10), left center; USS Lawrence (Destroyer # 8), foreground; and USS Perry (Destroyer # 11), inboard of Lawrence.
U.S. Navy photo NH 52104		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 98k Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania. Destroyers awaiting decommissioning in the Navy Yard's Reserve Basin, during the Spring of 1919. Ships present are (from left to right): USS Isabel; four unidentified "750-ton" type destroyers; USS Preble (Destroyer # 12); USS Decatur (Destroyer # 5); USS Paul Jones (Destroyer # 10); USS Stewart (Destroyer # 13); USS Bainbridge (Destroyer # 1); USS Hopkins (Destroyer # 6); USS Hull (Destroyer # 7); USS Barry (Destroyer # 2); USS Worden (Destroyer # 16); USS Truxtun (Destroyer # 14); USS Whipple (Destroyer # 15); USS Perry (Destroyer # 11); USS Lawrence (Destroyer # 8); and USS Dale (Destroyer # 4).
Photographed by La Tour.
U.S. Navy photo NH 43036		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 113k At Key West, Florida, 17 May 1919, prior to her Mississippi River recruiting trip.
U.S. Navy photo 80-G-1017190		 Mike Green & The Naval Historical Center
USS Isabel (PY 10)
Isabel 54k - -
Isabel 63k . Robert Hirst
Isabel 94k Hangchow, China. Some of the ships of the U.S. Navy's Yangtse River Patrol at Hangchow during the 1920s, with several local junks and sampans also present. U.S. Navy ships are (from left to right): USS Isabel (PY-10); USS Villalobos (PG-42); and USS Elcano (PG-38).
Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969.
U.S. Navy photo NH 67127		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 73k Dressed with flags in Chinese waters, circa the 1920s, while serving as flagship of the Yangtse River Patrol.
Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969.
U.S. Navy photo NH 67128		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 50k At anchor, circa the 1920s. She is flying the four-star flag of the Commander in Chief, U.S. Asiatic Fleet.
Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969.
U.S. Navy photo NH 67580		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 84k Isabel, at left, and USS Preble (DD-345), at right. At Hankow, China, circa the early 1920s. Destroyers beyond Preble are USS Pruitt (DD-347) and USS Sicard (DD-346).
Received from the U.S. Naval Library, Treasure Island Naval Station, California, 1969.
U.S. Navy photo NH 67756		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 73k Anchored in Chinese waters, probably at Hankow, during the early 1920s.
Courtesy of Frederick Cornman, 1971.
U.S. Navy photo NH 77125		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 81k Photographed in Chinese waters, during the early 1920s.
Courtesy of Frederick Cornman, 1971.
U.S. Navy photo NH 77138		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 80k Delicately water color tinted photograph of the ship in Chinese waters, circa the 1920s.
Collection of Captain Glenn Howell, USN.
U.S. Navy photo NH 83192-KN		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 54k At Hankow, China, 1923. The original print was marked by the donor to note the location of the ship's radio room and her radio call letters.
Collection of Henry J. Poy, who served in Isabel as a Radioman First Class in 1923.
U.S. Navy photo NH 91410		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 101k U.S. Warships at Hankow, China, at low river level, 1925. Ships are USS Truxtun (DD-229) at left; USS Isabel (PY-10) in center, and USS Palos (PG-16) in the right foreground. Also present are several junks, and a British Cornflower class sloop (partially visible at far right).
Collection of Captain Glenn Howell, USN.
U.S. Navy photo NH 80990		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 70k At Hankow, China, in 1927. She is flying the two-star flag of Commander, Yangtze Patrol and has sandbags placed around her gun mounts.
Collection of Captain Glenn Howell, USN.
U.S. Navy photo NH 81171		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 86k In Asiatic waters, about 1928.
U.S. Navy photo NH 73279		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 83k In Asiatic waters on 29 July 1928, while serving as flagship of the Yangtze River Patrol.
U.S. Navy photo NH 73280		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 127k Off Tsingtao, China, circa the mid-1930s. This photograph was received by the Navy Recruiting Bureau, New York, in May 1935.
U.S. Navy photo NH 99739		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 95k Off Tsingtao, China, circa the mid-1930s. This photograph was received by the Navy Recruiting Bureau, New York, in May 1935.
U.S. Navy photo NH 101688		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 78k Underway on the Yangtze River, China, circa 1932.
Courtesy of Mr. W.G. Kelly, 1970.
U.S. Navy photo NH 81248		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 111k USS Houston (CA-30) with USS Isabel (PY-10) alongside, at Tsingtao, China, 1932.
Courtesy of Captain G. Knox Bishop, U.S. Air Force, 1974.
U.S. Navy photo NH 80114		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 92k At Ichang, China, 1932.
Courtesy of Captain G.K. Bishop, U.S. Air Force, 1973.
U.S. Navy photo NH 80118		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 93k In the Dewey Dry Dock, at Olongapo Naval Station, Philippines, 1933.
Courtesy of Captain G.K. Bishop, U.S. Air Force, 1973.
U.S. Navy photo NH 80116		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 77k Dressed with flags at Swatow, China, in 1934.
Courtesy of Captain G.K. Bishop, U.S. Air Force, 1973.
U.S. Navy photo NH 80115		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 87k At Manila, Philippine Islands, on 15 February 1934, while she was serving as flagship of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet.
U.S. Navy photo NH 80-G-1017189		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 78k At Hong Kong, circa 1935.
Courtesy of Chief Radioman W.R. Lucas, USN (Retired), 1973.
U.S. Navy photo NH 78366		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 111k At Hankow, China, on 14 May 1937. She is "dressed overall" in honor of the coronation of King George VI of England and flies the four-star flag of Commander in Chief, U.S. Asiatic Fleet.
Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Admiral Harry E. Yarnell, USN.
U.S. Navy photo NH 83530		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 82k In the southwest Pacific area, circa early 1942.
Photograph from the papers of Admiral Thomas C. Hart, USN.
U.S. Navy photo NH 84776		 Naval Historical Center
Isabel 85k In the southwest Pacific area, circa early 1942.
Photograph from the papers of Admiral Thomas C. Hart, USN.
U.S. Navy photo NH 84777		 Naval Historical Center
View the Isabel (PY-10)
DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation
Fleet Reserve Association
Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Yangtze River Patrol Memorial
The Yangtze Patrol
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