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Patrol Yacht Photo Archive

Niagara (PY 9)



Call sign (1921):
Nan - Able - Boy - Cast

ex-Niagara (SP 136)


Patrol Yacht:

  • The sixth Niagara was built in 1898 by Harlan and Hollingsworth, Wilmington, DE
  • Purchased by the Navy 10 August 1917
  • Commissioned USS Niagara (SP 136), 16 April 1918 at Tebo's Yacht Basin, Brooklyn, NY
  • Reclassified as a Patrol Yacht, PY-9, 17 July 1920
  • Decommissioned 21 April 1922 at Philadelphia, PA
  • Recommissioned 24 June 1924
  • Decommissioned 3 March 1931 at Philadelphia
  • Struck from the Navy list 10 December 1931
  • Sold for Scrap 13 September 1933 to the Northern Metal Co. of Philadelphia.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 2,690 t.
  • Length 282'
  • Beam 36'
  • Draft 17'
  • Speed 13 kts.
  • Complement 195
  • Armament: Four 4"/50 mounts, two machine guns and one depth charge projector Y-Gun
  • Propulsion: Three single-ended boilers, two 900hp vertical triple-expansion steam engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image
    Size Image Description Source
    Niagara
    Niagara 66k Photograph taken prior to her World War I Navy service
    U.S. Navy photo NH 102908
    Naval History and Heritage Command
    USS Niagara (PY 9)
    Niagara 139k
    Niagara 66k
    Niagara 66k At anchor, circa 1920, probably in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
    Collection of Gustave Maurer, ex-Chief Photographer, 1921
    U.S. Navy photo NH 2232
    Naval History and Heritage Command
    Niagara 66k In Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, circa 1920. Two battleships are in the background
    Collection of Gustave Maurer, ex-Chief Photographer, 1921
    U.S. Navy photo NH 44823
    Niagara 66k At anchor, probably while assigned to surveying duty during the 1920s
    U.S. Navy photo NH 1094
    Niagara 66k In port, during the early 1920s
    Collection of Captain Frederick R. Naile, USN
    U.S. Navy photo NH 102937
    Niagara 66k In a Caribbean-area port while on surveying duty, circa the 1920s
    Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969
    U.S. Navy photo NH 68340
    Niagara
    Mayflower 98k 26 January 1931
    Photo shows the yacht, which was used by five Presidents, Mayflower, ex-PY-1 after being swept by flames as she lay in the back channel at the Navy Yard Saturday night. Her hold filled with water, she settled to the bottom. Directly in back of the partly submerged craft can be seen her sister ship, the Niagara
    Photo from the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, George D. McDowell Collection
    Mike Green
    Niagara 66k At the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, circa 1931-1933, while being stripped for sale
    Courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer, 1936
    U.S. Navy photo NH 46458
    Naval History and Heritage Command
    Niagara 66k Sailor working on the ship's eagle figurehead, while she was being stripped for sale at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, circa 1931-1933
    Courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer, 1936
    U.S. Navy photo NH 46460
    Niagara 66k Section of structure, including bathroom facilities, removed from a ship being scrapped at the Navy Yard during the early 1930s. The ship may be USS
    Niagara (PY-9)
    Courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer, 1936
    U.S. Navy photo NH 46459
    Niagara 91k Sailor uses a pneumatic chipping tool to remove paint from a small gun pedestal, on board a ship at the Navy Yard during the early 1930s. The ship may be USS
    Niagara (PY-9)

    Courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer, 1936
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 46461
    Robert Hurst

    Commanding Officers
    01CDR Edgar Brown Larimer, USN - USNA Class of 1899
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Rear Admiral
    16 April 1918
    02CAPT William Vans Edmondson Jacobs, USCG - Awarded the Navy Cross (1918)
    Retired as Commodore
    1918 - 1919
    03CDR Roe Reed Adams, USN - USNA Class of 19028 June 1919
    04LCDR Robert Lee Ghormley, USN - USNA Class of 1906
    Awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal (1919), the Navy Distinguished Service Medal (1945) and the Legion of Merit (1944) - Retired as Vice Admiral
    1920
    05CDR Paul Pritchard Blackburn, USN - USNA Class of 190424 June 1924 - June 1925
    06CDR George Martin Baum, USN - USNA Class of 1904June 1925 - 19 October 1927
    07CAPT Arthur Byron Cook, USN - USNA Class of 1905
    Awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal (1945) and the Legion of Merit (1944) - Retired as Vice Admiral
    19 October 1927 - 1928
    08CDR Newton Lord Nichols, USN - USNA Class of 1907
    Retired as Captain
    1930 - 3 March 1931
    Courtesy Joe Radigan and Wolfgang Hechler

    View the Niagara (PY 9)
    DANFS History entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command Website
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by Tom Bateman
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