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Gunboat Photo Archive

Dauntless (PG-61)



Call sign:
Nan - Baker - Able - King
Patrol Gunboat:

  • The second Dauntless was designed by H.J. Gielow and built in 1921 and built as the steel-hulled yacht Delphine at a cost of $2,000,000 by the Great Lakes Engine Works, Ecorse, Michigan
  • Launched 2 April 1921
  • Burned and sank in the Hudson River, New York in 1926
  • After four months on the bottom, was raised and rebuilt at cost of $750,000
  • Struck a rock in Lake Huron in 1940 off Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada, but suffered only minor damage.
  • Acquired by the Navy 21 January 1942
  • Commissioned USS Dauntless (PG-61), 11 May 1942
  • Decommissioned 11 May 1946
  • Struck from the Naval Register 5 June 1946
  • Transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal 10 June 1946
  • Returned to her prewar owner, Anna Dodge Dillman of Grosse Pointe, MI and renamed Delphine
  • Acquired in 1950 by Horace E. Dodge of Grosse Pointe
  • Acquired in 1966 by Anna Thomson Dodge of Grosse Pointe
  • Donated to The People to People Health Foundation in 1967
  • Sold in 1968 to the Lundeburg Seamanship School of Piney Point, MD and renamed Dauntless
  • Sold in 1986 to Travel Dynamics of New York City
  • Sold in 1989 to Sea Sun Cruises, a French - Singapore Co.
  • Sold in 1997 to a European businessman and towed to Bruges, Belgium for restoration, which lasted from February 1998 to July 2003
  • Renamed Delphine, she currently operates out of Monaco.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,950 t.
  • Length 257' 7"
  • Beam 35' 2"
  • Draft 16' 3"
  • Speed 16 kts.
  • Complement 135
  • Armament: Two 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts
  • Propulsion: Three 250psi Babcock and Wilcox boilers, two 3,000ihp vertical quadruple expansion Great Lakes Engine Works engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    SS Delphine
    Delphine 88k 2 April 1921
    Delphine launching
    Photo from the 1921 edition of Popular Mechanics magazine    		 Robert Hurst
    Photo added 15 August 2021
    Delphine 62k Historical Collections of the Great Lakes
    USS Dauntless (PG 61)
    Dauntless 40k Gunter Krebs
    Dauntless 77k Washington Navy Yard
    National Archives photo    		 Joe Radigan
    Dauntless 137k Washington Navy Yard
    Flying the flag of ADM Ernest King
    National Archives photo
    Delphine 330k Potomac River Flood, October 1942. View of the Anacostia River waterfront, looking southeasterly from over the Washington Navy Yard, showing flood conditions. The 11th Street Bridge is at left, with the southeastern portion of the Navy Yard in the lower part of the view and part of the Anacostia Naval Station on the opposite side of the river. Ships in the river include USS Hartford (IX-13), in center; USS Dauntless (PG 61), tied up to one of the Navy Yard's piers at right; and USS Sequoia (AG-23), moored in the middle of the river at right. Note how far the flood waters have advanced up the Navy Yard's streets, well beyond Buildings No. 1 and 76, in the lower right center
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 82601    		 Robert Hurst
    Dauntless 67k c. 1943
    Washington Navy Yard    		 SS Delphine Website
    SS Delphine
    Delphine 119k c. 1997
    Bruges, Belgium
    Under renovation    		 Tommy Trampp
    Delphine 38k After renovation
    Delphine 63k Sainte-Maxime, France
    Delphine 36k Delphine as she appears today SS Delphine Website
    Delphine 125k c. 2008
    Monte Carlo, Monaco    		 Carlo Martinelli
    Delphine 114k c. 2008
    Horace Dodge's steam yacht SS Delphine seen here leaving the port of Nice, France
    Photo taken by LynxIV    		 Robert Hurst
    Photos added 15 August 2021
    Delphine 137k 5 June 2009
    SS Delphine moored offshore in Hammamet Harbor, Tunisia
    Photo taken by Mike McBey
    Delphine 110k 14 November 2011
    SS Delphine in Hammamet Harbor, Tunisia
    Photo taken by Mounir SAADA
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR Charles Frederick Grisham, USN11 May 1942 - 14 July 1944
    02CDR Ira Walter Truitt, USN14 July 1944 - 5 April 1945
    03CAPT Joseph George Pomeroy, USN - Awarded the Legion of Merit (1943)
    Retired as Rear Admiral    		5 April 1945 - 11 May 1946
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Joe Radigan
    View the Dauntless (PG-61)
    DANFS History entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command Website
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    SS Delphine Website
    Back to the Main Photo Index Back to the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Ship Index Back to the Patrol Gunboat (PG) Photo Index
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    This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Tom Bateman
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History