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

Photo #  NH 103409-KN:  Tug Sea Rover prior to World War I.


Online Library of Selected Images:
-- CIVILIAN SHIPS --

Sea Rover (American Tug, 1902).
Was USS Sea Rover (SP-1014, later AT-57) in 1918-1922

Sea Rover, a 199 gross ton tug, was built in 1902 by the Fulton Iron Works at San Francisco, California. After a decade and a half of commercial operation in West Coast waters, in December 1917 she was purchased by the Navy from the Shipowners & Merchants Tugboat Company of San Francisco. Commissioned at the end of January 1918 as USS Sea Rover (SP-1014), she soon steamed to the Atlantic with three barges in tow. Beginning in mid-May 1918, the tug was based at Bermuda. In early September she escorted the old destroyer Barry to Charleston, South Carolina. While returning to her base Sea Rover was disabled by a hurricane, subsequently underwent repairs, and did not reach Bermuda until mid-October. In May 1919 she suffered a boiler mishap while escorting submarine chasers to Charleston and had to be towed into port. Sea Rover left Bermuda for the last time in mid-July 1919 and later towed a gunnery target to the Pacific. Following arrival at San Francisco in late September, she was placed in reserve, though still in commissioned status. Designated AT-57 in July 1920, when the Navy implemented its hull number system, USS Sea Rover was placed out of commission in March 1921 and sold in February 1922. She then resumed employment with the Shipowners & Merchants Tugboat Company and was not scrapped until 1949.

This page features the only view we have concerning the tug Sea Rover of 1902, which was USS Sea Rover (SP-1014 and AT-57) in 1918-1922.


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 103409-KN (color)

S.S. Sea Rover (American Tug, 1902)

Color-tinted photograph taken prior to World War I, probably in San Francisco Bay, California.
This tug was USS Sea Rover (SP-1014, later AT-57) in 1918-1922.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 65KB; 740 x 425 pixels

 


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


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Page made 31 December 2005