Return to Naval Historical Center home page. Return to Online Library listing

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 83392:  USS Cythera in port, 2 March 1942

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Cythera (SP-575, later PY-26), 1917-1919 and 1942-1942.
Previously the civilian steam yacht Cythera (ex-Agwa, 1907)

USS Cythera, a 1000-ton (displacement) patrol vessel, was completed in 1907 at Leith, Scotland, as a 603 gross ton steam yacht. Named Agwa and Cythera during the next decade, she was leased by the U.S. Navy for World War I patrol service and placed in commission in October 1917. Late in that month Cythera left Newport, Rhode Island, on the first leg of a voyage escorting submarine chasers and other patrol vessels across the Atlantic. Stopping in Bermuda and the Azores while en route, she arrived at Gibraltar a few days before the end of the year. Based at Gibraltar during the rest of the war, Cythera was employed on escort and patrol missions in the western Mediterranean, encountering enemy submarine activity on at least two occasions. In December 1918, several weeks after the Armistice ended the fighting, Cythera left Gibraltar for home. Arriving at New York early in February 1919, she was decommissioned in mid-March and returned to her owner.

Following more than two decades of renewed use as a private yacht, Cythera was reacquired for Naval service at the end of 1941, soon after the United States formally entered World War II. Recommissioned in early March 1942 as USS Cythera (PY-26), she was assigned to patrol duties during the struggle to control the then raging German submarine offensive in the western Atlantic and Caribbean areas. On 2 May 1942 she was torpedoed and sunk by U-402 off North Carolina. Only two of her 68-man crew survived to become German prisoners of war.

This page features the only views we have concerning USS Cythera (SP-575, later PY-26) and the civilian steam yacht Cythera.

For more photographs related to USS Cythera's November 1917 trip from Bermuda to the Azores, see:

  • USS Margaret (SP-527) -- Voyage from the U.S. to the Azores, November 1917.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 99658

    Cythera
    (American Steam Yacht, 1907)

    In port in 1917, possibly when she was inspected by the Third Naval District on 5 July 1917. Commissioned on 20 October 1917 as USS Cythera (SP-575), she was returned to her owner on 19 March 1919.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 73KB; 555 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 55550

    USS Cythera
    (SP-575)

    Preparing to take USS Margaret (SP-527) in tow, during their passage from Bermuda to the Azores in November 1917. She towed Margaret for thirteen of the nineteen days of this voyage.
    Another converted yacht is visible in the center distance.
    Photographed from on board Margaret by Raymond D. Borden.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 69KB; 740 x 445 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 55551

    USS Cythera
    (SP-575)

    Just after her tow line to USS Margaret (SP-527) had parted, during their passage from Bermuda to the Azores in November 1917. She towed Margaret for thirteen of the nineteen days of this voyage.
    Photographed from on board Margaret by Raymond D. Borden.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 59KB; 445 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 83392

    USS Cythera
    (PY-26)

    In port, 2 March 1942.

    Courtesy of D. M. McPherson, 1975.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 52KB; 740 x 470 pixels

     

    For more photographs related to USS Cythera's November 1917 trip from Bermuda to the Azores, see:

  • USS Margaret (SP-527) -- Voyage from the U.S. to the Azores, November 1917.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 31 October 2004