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Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

HMCS Renard (Z 13)
ex-HMCS Renard (S 13)



Renard call sign:
Charlie - Golf - Lima - Papa

ex-USS Winchester (SP 156)



Call sign (1919):
George - Sail - Mike - Quack

Winchester served the Navies of the United States and Canada.
Patrol Yacht:

  • Laid down 14 August 1915 as Winchester by Bath Iron Works, Bath, ME for Peter Winchester Rouse of New York, NY
  • Launched 29 April 1916
  • Acquired by the Navy 30 May 1917
  • Commissioned USS Winchester (SP 156), 4 September 1917
  • Decommissioned 19 December 1919 at Norfolk, VA and placed in reserve
  • Sold 24 March 1921 to Cox and Stevens of New York
  • Sold to Vincent Astor, then Russel A. Alger, and then Cornelius Vanderbilt III
  • Registered in 1927 to The George W. Rogers Contracting Corp. of New York, NY as the tug Edith M. III
  • Acquired in 1940 by B. P. McCurdy and renamed Renard
  • Sold to the Canadian Navy and commissioned HMCS Renard (S 13), 27 May 1940 for use in inshore patrol duty during World War II
  • Reclassified Z-13
  • Decommissioned 1 August 1944 and returned to her owners
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 399 t.
    1940 - 225 t.
  • Length 225'
  • Beam 21'
  • Draft 5' 6"
    1940 - 8'
  • Speed 31.65 kts.
    1940 - 15 kts.
  • Complement 1940 - 40
  • Armament: One 3"/50 mount, one 6-pounder, two machine guns and one Y-gun depth charge projector
    1940 - One 12-pounder and two 21" torpedo tubes
  • Propulsion: Two Normand boilers, two 3,500hp Parsons steam turbines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Yacht Winchester
    Winchester 115k c. 1912 Jim Rogers
    Winchester 99k Underway, circa 1916-1917
    U.S. Navy photo NH 81862    		 Naval Historical Center
    Winchester 94k Underway at the time she was owned by Peter W. Rouse of New York
    Public Archives of Canada photo from "The Armed Yachts of Canada", by Fraser McKee    		 Robert Hurst
    Winchester 92k c. 1930s.
    Underway at the time she was owned by General Cornelius Vanderbilt
    Public Archives of Canada photo from "The Armed Yachts of Canada", by Fraser McKee
    USS Winchester (SP 156)
    Winchester 115k Underway in the vicinity of New York City, circa 1918-1919. Photographed from USS North Dakota (Battleship No. 29).
    Collection of Edward C. Blackburn. Donated by William E. Wyman, July 1974.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 81863    		 Naval Historical Center
    Winchester 90k Underway in the vicinity of New York City, circa 1918-1919, with a motor launch passing in the foreground. Photographed from USS North Dakota (Battleship No. 29).
    Collection of Edward C. Blackburn. Donated by William E. Wyman, July 1974.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 103451
    Winchester 39k The fast, destroyer like yacht Winchester, armed for Navy service during World War I.
    HMCS Renard (Z 13)
    Winchester 82k Underway off Halifax, Nova Scotia, in her wartime camouflage
    Department of National Defence, Historical Section photo from "The Armed Yachts of Canada", by Fraser McKee    		 Robert Hurst
    Winchester 55k c. 1942
    Royal Canadian Navy photo
    Commanding Officers
    01LTJG Roland C. Nickerson, USNRF4 September 1917
    02LTJG Ludvig Elias Larsen, USNRF1918
    03Boatswain Adolph G. Will, USNRF1918 - 1919
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Winchester (SP-156)—a steel-hulled yacht built in 1916 by the Bath Iron Works, at Bath, Maine—was acquired on 30 May 1917 from Mr. Peter W. Rouse and commissioned on 4 September 1917, Lt. (jg.) R. C. Nickerson, USNRF, in command.

    Winchester was initially assigned to section patrol duty in the 2d Naval District. From commissioning to January 1918, she patrolled the coasts of Massachusetts and Connecticut between Chatham and New London. In January 1918, she was reassigned to the 5th Naval District and operated in the Norfolk-Hampton Roads area of Virginia until a month after the end of World War I. Throughout the latter period, she was assigned to special duty with the Bureau of Construction and Repair to test minesweeping equipment. Late in December 1918, she moved once again, this time to City Island, N.Y., but her testing duties continued almost uninterrupted until decommissioning. On 13 April 1919, she returned to the 5th Naval District. Winchester operated out of Yorktown, Va., until placed out of commission at Norfolk on 19 December 1919. After several attempts, she was finally sold to Cox & Stevens, of New York City, on 24 March 1921.

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