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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 102576:  USS Yacona at the Boston Navy Yard, circa December 1917

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

USS Yacona (SP-617), 1917-1921.
Previously the civilian steam yacht Yacona (ex-Cem, ex-Amelia, 1899)

USS Yacona, a 527 gross ton patrol vessel, was built in 1898 at Kinghorn, Scotland, as a civilian steam yacht. After being called Cem and Amelia in her early years, she was renamed Yacona and had this name when acquired by the U.S. Navy late in September 1917. Placed in commission in December 1917, she briefly operated along the U.S. northeastern coast until late February 1918, when she began her first Atlantic escort mission. Though suffering storm damage early in the voyage, Yacona reached Bermuda at the beginning of March and helped shepherd a group of submarine chasers and other vessels to the Azores during April, returning to Bermuda in May. She completed a second escort mission from Bermuda to the Azores and back before steaming to the U.S. in July to undergo repairs. A third round-trip to the Azores occupied Yacona from early September into November 1918.

The Armistice ended the First World War's fighting as Yacona arrived back in the U.S. She spent the rest of the year attached to an Atlantic Fleet battleship division and after January 1919 was inactive at New London, Connecticut. Decommissioned in June 1919, Yacona was laid up until October 1920, when she was recommissioned. At the beginning of March 1921 she began a long voyage to the Philippines, by way of Bermuda, the Azores, the Mediterranean Sea, Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean. USS Yacona reached Manila in mid-July. She was placed out of commission later in that month and transferred to the Philippine Government.

This page features the only views we have concerning USS Yacona (SP-617) and the civilian steam yacht Yacona.


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 89773

Yacona
(American Steam Yacht, 1898)

Photographed prior to World War I.
This yacht served as USS Yacona (SP-617) in 1917-1921.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 85KB; 740 x 525 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 102576

USS Yacona
(SP-617)

At the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, circa December 1917, painted in pattern camouflage.
Built in 1898 and previously named Cem and Amelia, the steam yacht Yacona was acquired by the Navy on 29 September 1917 and commissioned on 10 December 1917. She was transferred to the Government of the Philippines on 27 July 1921.
Yacht Isabel, then being prepared for service as USS Isabel (SP-521), is on the other side of the pier from Yacona. Steamers in the background are Aroostook (ID # 1256, formerly S.S. Bunker Hill) and Massachusetts, which became USS Shawmut (ID # 1255).

The original photograph is in Record Group 19-LCM in the National Archives.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 67KB; 740 x 424 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 30 October 2004