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NavSource Online:
Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive
Left and center patch courtesy of Tommy Trampp, right patch courtesy of Wolfgang Heckler

Cythera (PY-26)
ex-Cythera (SP-575)



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

SP-575 call sign (1919):
Nan - Able - George - Zed

Call sign (1933):
King - Love - Jig - Option

Sunk 2 May 1942
Patrol Yacht:

  • Built by Ramage and Ferguson Ltd., Leith, Scotland (YN 205)
  • Launched, 20 September 1906
  • Completed for Charles W. Harkness as the yacht Agawa (ON 213125), 1907
  • Onwnership assed to William L. Harkness, 1917
  • Leased by the Navy and commissioned USS Cythera (SP-575), 20 October 1917
  • Decommissioned, 17 March 1919
  • Returned to her owner as Cythera, 19 March 1919
  • Registered to W.L. Harkness' widow, Edith Hale Harkness, New York, NY, 1919
  • Reacquired by the Navy for $1, 31 December 1941
  • Converted to Patrol Yacht PY-26, 28 February 1942
  • Placed in service, 03 March 1942
  • Torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-402 off North Carolina, 02 May 1942
  • Struck from the Navy Register 24 June 1942.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,000 t.
    1933 - 602 t.
  • Length 215'
    1933 - 192.2'
  • Beam 27' 6"
  • Draft 12'
    1933 - 16.1'
  • Speed 15.5 kts.
  • Complement 113
    1933 - 30
    71 at time of sinking
  • Armament: Three 3"/50 gun mounts and two machine guns
  • Propulsion: Two single ended boilers, one 1,500hp vertical triple expansion 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 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
    Yacht Cythera
    Cythera 121k 12 January 1942
    Philadelphia Navy Yard, PA
    Prior to conversion
    National Archives photo    		 NOAA Monitor National Marine Sanctuary
    Photo added 18 March 2022
    USS Cythera (PY 26)
    Cythera 461k 2 March 1942
    Philadelphia Navy Yard, PA
    Looking forward, showing empty machine gun pedestal and 3"/50 mount
    National Archives photo    		 NOAA Monitor National Marine Sanctuary
    Cythera
    1217057513    		 218k Being readied for sea in drydock no. 2, Philadelphia Navy Yard, PA, early March 1942.
    Photo by George Strock, Life Magazine. Used for educational and non-commercial purpose    		 John Chiquoine
    Cythera 237k Cythera in port, 2 March 1942
    Courtesy of D. M. McPherson, 1975
    U.S. Navy photo NH 83392    		 Naval Historical Center
    Cythera 67k 11 March 2020
    Line drawing made in Art Class by R. J. Serra    		 R. J. Serra
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Walter Gordon Roper, USN - USNA Class of 1898
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Captain    		20 October 1917
    02LCDR George Ernest Lake, USNRF - USNA Class of 1906
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918)    		1918 - 17 August 1918
    03CAPT Raymond L. Jack, USCG - Awarded the Navy Cross (1918)17 August 1918 - 19 February 1919
    04LCDR Thomas Wright Rudderow, USNR - USS Rudderow (DE 224) was named in his honor3 March 1942 - 2 May 1942
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    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 Section Patrol Craft (SP) Photo Index Back to the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Ship Index Back to the Patrol Yacht (PY) Photo Index
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by David Wright
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 03 December 2023