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Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

USC&GS Mikawe

Call sign (1933):
William - Tare - Easy - Mike

ex-USS Mikawe (SP 309)

Mikawe served both the U. S. Navy and the Coast & Geodetic Survey

Patrol Yacht:

  • Built in June 1916 by the Defoe Boat and Motor Works, Bay City, MI
  • Acquired by the Navy 10 August 1917 and placed in service as USS Mikawe (SP 309) the same day
  • Transferred to the Coast and Geodetic Survey 24 April 1919 as USCGS Mikawe
  • Destroyed by fire 27 October 1939 at Norfolk, VA while taking on fuel.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 41 t.
    1933 - 45 t.
  • Length 65'
    1933 - 64'
  • Beam 14'
  • Draft 3' 9"
    1933 - 5'
  • Speed 11.6 kts.
    1933 - 10 kts.
  • Complement: Nine
    1933 - 14
  • Armament: Two 1-pounders and two machine guns
  • Propulsion: One 6-cylinder 100hp Stork gasoline engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Yacht Mikawe
    Mikawe 66k A very blurred photograph, taken prior to World War I
    U.S. Navy photo NH 102031    		 Naval Historical Center
    Mikawe 80k In port, prior to her World War I era Naval service
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 99620    		 Robert Hurst
    Mikawe 67k Historical Collections of the Great Lakes
    USCGS Mikawe
    Mikawe 134k c. 1927
    Tidewater area of Virginia    		 NOAA History Website
    Mikawe 161k 4 July 1928
    Norfolk, Virginia
    Dressed for the 4th of July.
    Photo courtesy of the family of Captain Robert A. Earle, C&GS
    Commanding Officers
    01Chief Boatswain's Mate James Curtiss, USNRF10 August 1917 - 27 November 1917
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Mikawe (SP-309), a wooden-hull patrol boat built in 1916 at Bay City, Mich., was acquired by the U.S. Navy, 10 August 1917, from Thomas H. Gill for $12,500 and placed in service the same day. For almost 2 years she served as a section patrol boat in the 9th Naval District [Great Lakes]. On 24 April 1919 she was transferred to the U.S. Coast and
    Geodetic Survey.
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by David Wright
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