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Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

Venetia (SP 431)

Patrol Yacht:

  • Built in 1904 by Hawthorne and Co., Ltd., Leith, Scotland for F. W. Sykes of Green Lea, Yorkshire, Great Britain
  • Sold in 1905 to Morton F. Plant of New York, NY
  • Sold in 1908 to Jesse Livermore of New York
  • Sold in 1909 to G. W. Elkins of Elkins Park, PA
  • Sold in 1911 to John D. Spreckles of San Francisco, CA
  • Acquired by the Navy 4 August 1917
  • Commissioned 15 October 1917 at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA
  • Decommissioned 27 February 1919 at Mare Island
  • Returned to her owner 4 April 1919
  • Sold in 1928 to James Playfair of Midland, Ontario. Canada
  • Sold in 1939 to Robert S. Misener of Sarnia, Ontario
  • Sold in 1963 to the S.G. Powell Shipyard, Ltd. of Dunnville, Ontario
  • Scrapped in 1968.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 589 t.
  • Length 226'
  • Beam 27' 2"
  • Draft 15'
  • Speed 13 kts.
  • Complement 69
  • Armament: Four 3"/50 mounts and two machine guns
  • Propulsion: Two single ended boilers, one 750hp vertical triple expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Yacht Venetia
    Venetia 107k Jim Rogers
    Venetia 60k At anchor off San Diego, California, prior to World War I. Venetia flies the flag of John D. Spreckles' Oceanic Steamship Company
    U.S. Navy photo NH 89772    		 Naval Historical Center
    USS Venetia (SP 431)
    Venetia 86k Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, circa October 1917. She is painted in what may be Mackay low-visibility camouflage
    U.S. Navy photo NH 47198    		 Original photo: Mike Green
    Replacement photo: Naval Historical Center
    Venetia 66k Crew members polish the star of reward mounted on this ship's smokestack. Photographed at San Francisco, California, 26 February 1919. This star was awarded to the ship for her anti-submarine activities during World War I. At the time she was credited with sinking three German U-boats
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 45230    		 Robert Hurst
    Photo added 21 July 2019
    Venetia 68k Gunner Illinus D. Jacobus, USN standing by a depth charge on board Venetia, at San Francisco, California, 26 February 1919. He is accompanied by a Chief Petty Officer
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 48855
    Venetia 98k Photograph dated 26 February 1919, upon her return to San Francisco, California, following World War I service. She has a star mounted on her smokestack in recognition of her wartime anti-submarine activities
    U.S. Navy photo NH 85180-A    		 Naval Historical Center
    Yacht Venetia
    Venetia 64k Historical Collections of the Great Lakes
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR Lewis Broughton Porterfield, USN - USNA Class of 1902
    Awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal (1918) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		15 October 1917 - 2 August 1918
    021stLT Charles Frederick Howell, USCG - Awarded the Navy Cross (1918)
    Retired as Rear Admiral    		2 August 1918
    03LT Frank W. Perry, USNRF1918 - 1919
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    View the Venetia (SP 431)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by David Wright
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