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NavSource Online:
Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

SP-103
ex-Raven III (SP 103)



Call sign:
Nan - Unit - Fox - King
Motorboat:

  • Built in 1916 by Purdy Boat Co., Miami Beach, FL
  • Acquired by the Navy 14 June 1917
  • Commissioned USS Raven III (SP 103), 5 October 1917
  • Renamed SP-103 soon after commissioning
  • Sank accidently 12 September 1919 and later sold
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 6 t.
  • Length 50'
  • Beam 9'
  • Draft 2' ½"
  • Speed 27.7 kts.
  • Complement: Six
  • Armament: One 1-pounder
  • Propulsion: Two 8-cylinder 200hp Charles L. Seabury gasoline engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Raven 24k Namesake: Raven - A large, black bird of the crow family Tommy Trampp
    SP-103 140k Photo from the April 1917 edition of The Rudder Joe Radigan
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships History: Raven III (SP-103), a motorboat built in 1916 by Purdy Boat Co., Miami Beach, Fla., was purchased by the Navy from Purdy Boat Co., 14 June 1917; delivered 28 June 1917; and commissioned 5 October 1917 at Key West, Fla., MM2c Gordon Stanford, USNRF, in command.

    Soon after commissioning Raven III was renamed SP-103 and attached to Section 4 of the 7th Naval District coast defense force in World War I as a patrol craft working with the training facility at Key West. She sank accidentally 12 September 1919 and was later sold to Stewart McDonald, Moon Motor Car Co., St. Louis, Mo.

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