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 89758:  USS Wanderer underway at sea, circa 1917

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

USS Wanderer (SP-132), 1917-1920.
Previously the Steam Yacht Kethailes and Wanderer (1897)

The 362 gross ton steam yacht Kethailes, built in 1897 at Leith, Scotland, was later renamed Wanderer. She was taken over by the U.S. Navy in June 1917 and placed in commission a month later as USS Wanderer (SP-132). She operated briefly along the U.S. and Canadian East Coasts before steaming to Brest, France, by way of the Azores in August 1917. For the rest of World War I the converted yacht performed antisubmarine patrol and convoy escort duties in the Bay of Biscay. In her first months of this service her convoys had several encounters with German U-boats and in April 1918 she was close by when the S.S. Florence H., loaded with ammunition, blew up in Quiberon Bay. Wanderer returned to the U.S. in December 1918, several weeks after the Armistice ended the fighting. She was decommissioned in April 1919 and sold in July 1920.

This page features all the views we have related to USS Wanderer (SP-132).


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 102506

USS Wanderer
(SP-132)

In port, circa 1917-1919.
Built in 1897 and originally named Kethailes, this steam yacht was acquired by the Navy on 10 June 1917 and placed in commission on 14 June 1917. She was stricken from the Navy Register on 24 April 1919 and sold on 22 July 1920.

The original print is in National Archives' Record Group 19-LCM.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 66KB; 740 x 445 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 89758

USS Wanderer
(SP-132)

Underway at sea, circa 1917, possibly while running trials after her conversion for Navy service.
The original photograph, mounted on this ship's "SP" data card, is labeled "Boat - After taken over. Showing war paint".

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 495 pixels

 


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 20 May 2004