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Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

Satilla (SP 687)



Call sign (1927):
King - Roger - Sail - Jig
Patrol Yacht:

  • Built in 1902 by George Lawley and Sons, Neponset, MA
  • Acquired by the Navy 17 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
  • Registered in 1927 to Ira S. Bushy and Sons of New York, NY as the passenger vessel Edith
  • Sold later in 1927 to Captain William Baletti of Hoboken, NJ and used as a fishing boat
  • Registered in 1931 to Mary Damico of Hoboken, NJ as the passenger vessel Edith
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 106 t.
  • Length 128'
    1927 - 111.1'
  • Beam 16' 6"
  • Draft 6' 3"
    1927 - 10.2'
  • Speed 14 kts.
  • Complement 23
    1927 - Eight
  • Armament: One 3-pounder and one machine gun
  • Propulsion: One Almy boiler, one 450hp vertical triple expansion steam engine, 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
    Satilla 179k Post card Tommy Trampp
    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 99k Photographed circa 1917. The original image is printed on post card stock. Its reverse is inscribed "Some Tub"
    Donation of Charles R. Haberlein Jr., 2009
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 106704
    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
    Satilla 81k In port, circa 1918-1919.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 102197
    Satilla 79k Underway off Rockland, Maine, 15 March 1919.
    Photographed by R. Waldo Tyler.
    U.S. Navy photos NH 42547 and NH 42438
    Satilla 88k
    Fishing Boat Edith
    Satilla 117k Captain William Balletti's party fishing boat Edith returning to her 15th Street pier at Hoboken, NJ. In the background is the Manhattan skyline off West 14th Street
    Photo courtesy of Phil Castellano from Mel's Place    		 Robert Hurst
    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.

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