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NavSource Online:
Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

YT-111
ex-AT-53
ex-SP-467
ex-Delaware (SP 467)



Call sign:
Nan - Unit - Dog - Tare
Menhaden Fishing Vessel/Tug:

  • Built in 1913 by E. James Tull, Pocomoke City, MD
  • Acquired by the Navy 5 May 1917
  • Commissioned USS Delaware (SP 467), 22 May 1917
  • Renamed SP-467 in 1918
  • Reclassified as a Fleet Tug, AT-53 in July 1920
  • Reclassified as a Harbor Tug, YT-111 in 1921
  • Sold in April 1935
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 242 t.
    1920 - 550 t.
  • Length 140'
  • Beam 22' 6"
  • Draft 11' 2"
  • Complement 33
  • Armament: Two 6-pounders
  • Propulsion: One Harlan and Hollingsworth single ended boiler, one 400hp verticle compound steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Delaware 98k In harbor, during World War I
    U.S. Navy photo NH 47019    		 Naval Historical Center
    Delaware 62k Underway in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, circa 1920
    U.S. Navy photo NH 40718
    Delaware 104k In Drydock Number 1 at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, Hawaii, circa 1920-1921
    U.S. Navy photos NH 89791 and NH 96089
    Delaware 122k
    Commanding Officers
    01LTJG William M. Bertrand, USNRF1918
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships History: SP-467 (later AT-53 and YT-111) served in the Navy from 1917 to 1923. Although officially known as SP-467, she was erroneously listed under her merchant name, Delaware, on various occasions.

    *********************************************************************************************************************

    USS Delaware, a 242 gross ton minesweeper, was built in 1913 at Pocomoke City, Maryland, by E. James Tull as the commercial fishing vessel of the same name. She was acquired by the Navy 5 May 1917, placed in commission 22 May 1917, and formally purchased in August 1917 from the Delaware Fish Oil Company of Lewes, Delaware. Renamed SP-467 in 1918, presumably to avoid confusion with the battleship Delaware [BB-28], she spent the World War I era operating in the vicinity of Delaware Bay. Redesignated AT-53 in July 1920, and YT-111 a year later, the ship went to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, at about that time and was stationed there well into the 1930s. During those years she was listed in contemporary Navy publications as Delaware, though this may not have represented an official name change. She was sold in April 1935.

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