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Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

Cythera (PY-26)
ex-SP-575



Civilian call sign (1919):
King - Watch - Tare - Mike

Sunk 2 May 1942
Patrol Yacht:

  • Built in 1907 as the yacht Agawa by Ramage and Feguson Ltd., Leith, Scotland
  • Launched, 20 September 1906
  • Leased by the Navy in 1917
  • Commissioned USS Cythera (SP 575), 20 October 1917
  • Decommissioned 17 March 1919
  • Returned to her owner 19 March 1919
  • Reacquired by the Navy, 31 December 1941
  • Converted to a Patrol Yacht, PY-26, 28 February 1942
  • Placed in service, 3 March 1942
  • Torpedoed by the German submarine U-402 and sunk off North Carolina, 2 May 1942
  • Struck from the Navy Register 24 June 1942.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,000 t.
  • Length 215'
  • Beam 27' 6"
  • Draft 12'
  • Speed 12 kts.
  • Complement 113 (71 at time of sinking)
  • Armament: Three 3" gun mounts
  • Propulsion: One 1,350ihp steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Yacht Agawa
    Agawa 27k . .
    Agawa 55k
    Yacht Cythera
    Cythera 56k . Maunsel White
    Cythera 49k
    Cythera 237k In port in 1917, possibly when she was inspected by the Third Naval District on 5 July 1917.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99658    		 Naval Historical Center
    USS Cythera (SP 575)
    Cythera 237k . Jim Rogers
    Cythera 47k . Maunsel White
    Cythera 237k Preparing to take USS Margaret (SP-527) in tow, during their passage from Bermuda to the Azores in November 1917. She towed Margaret for thirteen of the nineteen days of this voyage. Another converted yacht is visible in the center distance.
    Photographed from on board Margaret by Raymond D. Borden.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 55550    		 Naval Historical Center
    Cythera 237k Just after her tow line to USS Margaret (SP-527) had parted, during their passage from Bermuda to the Azores in November 1917
    Photographed from on board Margaret by Raymond D. Borden.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 55551
    USS Cythera (PY 26)
    Cythera 237k Cythera in port, 2 March 1942.
    Courtesy of D. M. McPherson, 1975.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 83392    		 Naval Historical Center
    View the Sector Patrol Vessel Cythera (PY 26)
    DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway website
    Read the story
    "OVERDUE ATLANTIC" - USS CYTHERA (PY 26)
     by Robert P. Sables, LTC, MSC, AUS, Ret.
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back to the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Ship Index Back to the Section Patrol Craft (SP) Photo Index Back to the Patrol Yacht (PY) Photo Index
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