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Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

Cahill (SP 493)

Menhaden Fishing Vessel:

  • Built in 1912 as Winfield S. Cahill by M. M. Davis, Solomons Island, MD
  • Acquired by the Navy 12 June 1917
  • Commissioned USS Cahill (SP 493), 10 August 1917 at the Norfolk Navy Yard
  • Decommissioned 8 September 1919 and sold
  • Renamed Winfield S. Cahill
  • Sold in 1922 to Societa Navagazione and Galligianti of Genoa, Italy and renamed Eraclea
  • Sold in 1928 to Demetrios Z. Pandakis of Piraeus, Greece and used as a tug until 1938
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 299 t.
  • Length 150'
  • Beam 24' 6"
  • Draft 12'
  • Speed 12 kts.
  • Complement 37
  • Armament: One 3"/50 mount and two machine guns
  • Propulsion: One single ended boiler, one 550hp verticle compound steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Cahill 344k At the Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia on 18 August 1917. Her camouflage appears to be a form of the Mackay Low Visibility type. A similar ship is immediately behind her, also painted in this camouflage scheme
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 75515    		 Robert Hurst
    Anderton 119k USS Anderton (SP 530) off Lorient, France, circa 1918. She has the numeral "4" painted on her bow. Ships partially visible in the background are USS Piqua (SP-130), at left, and Cahill at right, with numeral "2" on her bow
    Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2011
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 107339
    Cahill 514k Off Lorient, France, circa 1918. She has the numeral "2" painted on her bow
    Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2011
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 107338
    Cahill 233k Lorient, France. View taken on 4 July 1918, showing U.S. Navy minesweepers in the right center, alongside the dock at Base 19. The French Navy machinist school is at left. The inboard ship is a hulk, presumably an old French warship employed as a harbor support vessel. Minesweepers tied up outboard of it include (from left to right): Cahill, USS Douglas (SP-313), USS Hinton (SP-485), USS Courtney (SP-375), and USS McNeal (SP-333). These former fishing vessels were originally known by their civilian names, respectively: Winfield S. Cahill, Otis W. Douglas, John B. Hinton, Warren J. Courtney and Kenneth L. McNeal. Though ordered shortened to surnames by a July 1917 Navy General Order, the longer names were often used afterwards
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 45084
    Commanding Officers
    01LTJG John B. Will, USN10 August 1917
    02LTJG Patrick J. Ford, USNRF - Awarded the Navy Cross (1918)1918
    03LTJG Chester E. Skeen, USNRF1918
    04LT Homer J. Parent, USNRF1919
    05ENS Frederick M. Cole, USNRF1919
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    View the Cahill (SP 493)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
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