Please report any broken links or trouble you might come across to the Webmaster. Please take a moment to let us know so that we can correct any problems and make your visit as enjoyable and as informative as possible.

NavSource Online:
Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

Satilla (SP 687)

Yacht: Built in 1902 by George Lawley and Sons, Neponset, MA; Acquired by the Navy in May 1917; Commissioned USS Satilla (SP 687), 31 May 1917; Decommissioned in 1919; Struck from the Navy list 7 November 1919; Sold 25 March 1920 to Oscar L. Ledberg of Providence, RI and renamed Edith; Sold in 1927 to Captain William Baletti of Hoboken, NJ and used as a fishing boat. Fate unknown.

Specifications: Displacement 106 t.; Length 128'; Beam 16' 6"; Draft 7'; Speed 14 kts.; Complement 28; Armament one 3-pounder and one machine gun; Propulsion steam, one shaft.

Click on thumbnail
for full size image		 Size Image Description Source
Yacht Satilla
Satilla 71k Photographed prior to World War I.
U.S. Navy photo NH 102196		 Naval Historical Center
USS Satilla (SP 687)
Satilla 88k Satilla or USS Thetis (SP-391) in port, during World war I. If this is Satilla then the photograph was taken circa 1917, before the extension to the deckhouse to occupy more space forward of
the smokestack.
Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2008.
Naval Historical Center photo NH 105484		 Robert Hurst
Satilla 89k Frozen in the ice at the Rockland, Maine, Section Base, during the winter of 1917.
Photographed by Alton H. Blackington, Boston, Massachusetts.
U.S. Navy photo NH 45287		 Naval Historical Center
Satilla 77k Surrounded by ice at the Rockland, Maine, Section Base, during the winter of 1917.
Photographed by Alton H. Blackington, Boston, Massachusetts.
U.S. Navy photo NH 45277		 Naval Historical Center
Satilla 81k In port, circa 1918-1919.
U.S. Navy photo NH 102197		 Naval Historical Center
Satilla 79k Underway off Rockland, Maine, 15 March 1919.
Photographed by R. Waldo Tyler.
U.S. Navy photo NH 42547		 Naval Historical Center
Satilla 88k Underway off Rockland, Maine, 15 March 1919.
Photographed by R. Waldo Tyler.
U.S. Navy photo NH 42547		 Naval Historical Center
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Satilla, a wooden, single-screw yacht built during 1902 by George Lawley and Sons, Neponset, Mass., was purchased during May 1917 by the State of Maine from the estate of her late owner, R. Hall McCormick of Chicago, for the local use of the section patrol commander at Rockville, Maine; enrolled on 18 June 1917 in the Naval Coast Defense Reserve, purchased during 1917 by the United States Navy; and commissioned on 31 May 1917, Ensign Roswell F. Eaton, USNRF, in command.

Satilla began her naval service on 24 May 1917 with the Maine Naval Militia, patrolling the state's coast in the tense days just after the United States entered World War I. Subsequently commissioned in the United States Navy, she continued to cruise in waters off Rockville and Bath, Maine, frequently lying to overnight at Cross Island, Winter Harbor, and Cutler Harbor. On 1 September 1917, she served as one of the escorts for the destroyer Manley (DD-74) during her sea trials off Bath, Maine.

While lying alongside the Hodge Boiler Works dock Rockville, Maine, Satilla was accidentally rammed by Ibis (SP-3051), and suffered considerable damage. Although her hull was buckled in on the port side and leaking, she was repaired and returned to duty after the war's end. Satilla steamed to Boston on 19 September 1919 where she was placed in the custody of the Commandant, 1st Naval District. Struck from the Navy list on 7 November 1919, Satilla was sold on 25 March 1920 to Oscar L. Ledberg of Providence, R.I.

Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Index Back to the Section Patrol Craft (SP) Photo Index
Comments, Suggestions, E-mail Webmaster
This page created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan
© 2005 Joseph M. Radigan © 1996 - 2005 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.