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Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

Ardent (SP 680)



Call sign (1917):
George - Sail - Have - King

Call sign (1919):
Nan - Unit - Cast - Rush

Call sign (1948):
Able - Xray - Item - Mike
Trawler/Minesweeper:

  • Built in 1902 by the Greenport Basin and Construction Co., Greenport, Long Island, NY
  • Acquired by the Navy 11 June 1917
  • Commissioned USS Ardent (SP 680), 15 August 1917
  • Struck from the Navy Register 22 August 1919
  • Decommissioned in 1921
  • Sold 16 May 1921 to Wigo Rasmussen of Brooklyn, NY as the towboat Ardent
  • Registered in 1927 to the Bay Ridge Water and Lighterage Co. of New York, NY as the towboat Ardent
  • Used in 1948 as a freighter
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 106 t.
  • Length 106' 2"
  • Beam 22'
  • Draft 5' 6"
    1927 - 7'
  • Speed 7.8 kts.
  • Complement 20
    1922 - 10
    1927 - Five
    1948 - Six
  • Armament: Two 1-pounders
  • Propulsion: One single ended boiler, one 150ihp compound engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Ardent 191k Fulton (AS 1) at the Naval Submarine Base New London, Groton, Connecticut, during World War I. Ardent is partially visible on the opposite side of the pier
    U.S. Navy photo NH 53972    		 Naval Historical Center
    Ardent 146k Fulton (Submarine Tender No. 1) at the Naval Submarine Base New London, Groton, Connecticut, during the World War I period. A motor launch is in the center foreground, and Ardent is at the right
    U.S. Navy photo NH 93121
    Ardent 120k Off the Naval Submarine Base New London, Groton, Connecticut, circa 1918
    Photographed by LaTour
    U.S. Navy photo NH 45275
    Ardent 106k In an icy southern New England port, circa 1917-1919. The ship immediately behind Ardent appears to be USS Eugene F. Price (SP-839)
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99269
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships History: Ardent (SP-680)—a fishing steamer built in 1902 by the Greenport Basin and Construction Co., was purchased by the Navy on 11 June 1917 from Raymond J. Anderson, Newport, R.I.; and commissioned on 15 August 1917, Lt. F. P. Betts in command.

    Ardent was fitted out as a minesweeper and assigned to the Mining Force, 2d Naval District. She carried out minesweeping duties and tended nets in the Newport, R. I., and Block Island sections throughout the remainder of World War I. In 1919, the ship was stationed at the submarine base in New London, Conn, where she became involved in torpedo work and worked at that task until early 1921, when she was decommissioned. The ship was sold on 16 May 1921 to Mr. Wigo Rasmussen, Brooklyn, N. Y.

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