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Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

USC&GS Onward
ex-USS Onward (SP 311)



Call sign:
George - Sail - Quack - Watch

Call sign (1919):
Nan - Unit - Fox - Jig


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

Patrol Yacht:

  • Built in 1908 as Galatea by the Engine and Power Co. and Charles L. Seabury, Morris Heights, NY;
  • Renamed Ungava and Onward
  • Acquired by the Navy 1 August 1917
  • Commissioned USS Onward (SP 311), 22 September 1917 at Norfolk, VA
  • Transferred to the Coast and Geodetic Survey 18 April 1919 and commissioned USC&GS Onward
  • Returned to U.S. Navy custody in 1920
  • Sold in April 1921
  • Renamed Thelma Phoebe in April 1923 and later that month she grounded and was wrecked on the south end of Fishers Island, NY while engaged in "Rum Running."

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 157 t.
  • Length 140'
  • Beam 17' 5"
  • Draft 6' 10½"
  • Speed 13.8 kts.
  • Complement 43
  • Armament: Two 6-pounders and two machine guns
  • Propulsion: One Seabury boiler, one 464ihp vertical triple-expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Yacht Onward
    Onward 137k Photographed prior to World War I.
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 103552    		 Robert Hurst
    USS Onward (SP 311)
    Onward 67k Photographed during World War I.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 102079    		 Naval Historical Center
    USC&GS Onward
    Onward 102k c. 1919
    Hampton, VA
    NOAA photo    		 NOAA Website
    View the Onward (SP 311)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval Historical Center website
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