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Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

USCGC Blanchard (WPYc 369)
ex-USCGC Blanchard (CGR 106)



Call sign:
Nan - Oboe - Charlie - Jig

ex-USS Alacrity (SP 206)



Civilian call sign (1919):
Love - Boy - Nan - Rush

Call sign (1919):
Nan - Unit - Cast - Make


Alacrity served both the U. S. Navy and Coast Guard

Patrol Yacht:

  • Built in 1910 by Pusey and Jones, Wilmington, DE
  • Acquired by the Navy 28 April 1917
  • Commissioned USS Alacrity (SP 206), 30 May 1917
  • Struck from the Navy list and returned to her owner 28 April 1919
  • Renamed Nedra B.
  • Acquired by the Coast Guard 20 August 1942 and commissioned USCGC Blanchard (CGR 106)
  • Reclassified as a Coastal Patrol Yacht, WPYc-369
  • Decommissioned 25 November 1943 and returned to her owner
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 101 t.
  • Length 118' 6"
  • Beam 15'
  • Draft 5' 1"
  • Speed 14 kts.
  • Complement 16
  • Armament: One 3-pounder, one 1-pounder, two machine guns, and one Y-gun depth charge projector
  • Propulsion: Two 175shp Winton diesel engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Alacrity 48k Photographed by her builders, Pusey & Jones of Wilmington, Delaware circa 1910
    U.S. Navy photo NH 95856    		 Naval Historical Center
    Alacrity 75k Lockwood's Basin, Boston, Massachusetts. General view from the end of the pier, taken by Alton M. Blackinton, Boston, circa 1918. USS Moosehead (ID 2047) occupies most of the image. Beyond her stern is Alacrity
    U.S. Navy photo NH 42142
    Alacrity 83k Lockwood's Basin, Boston, Massachusetts. View of the basin looking down the pier, taken by Alton M. Blackinton, Boston, circa 1918, showing USS Moosehead (ID 2047) in the center and section patrol boats. Alacrity is at the far left. The patrol boats in the left center foreground are (from left to right): USS Kiowa (SP-711); USS Skink (SP-605); unidentified; USS Whistler (SP-785); and USS Lynx II (SP-730)
    U.S. Navy photo NH 42147
    Alacrity 69k Lockwood's Basin, Boston, Massachusetts. Section Patrol boat base at Lockwood's Basin, circa 1918, with USS Moosehead (ID 2047) alongside the pier in the right background. Among the patrol boats present are USS Skink (SP-605), in the left foreground, and Alacrity behind her
    Photographed by Alton M. Blackinton, Boston
    U.S. Navy photo NH 42284
    Elsie III 89k In Lockwood's Basin, Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1918, with an old torpedo boat (probably USS Rodgers, Torpedo Boat # 4) alongside USS Moosehead (ID 2047). USS Elsie III
    (SP-708)     is alongside the pier in left center with Alacrity beyond.
    Photographed by Alton M. Blackinton, Boston
    U.S. Navy photo NH 45269
    Commanding Officers
    01ENS Courtland W. Babcock, USNRF30 May 1917
    02Chief Boatswain Thomas W. Evans, USN1918 - 1919
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: The first Alacrity (SP-206)-a motorboat constructed in 1910 at Wilmington Del., by Pusey & Jones—was acquired by the Navy on 28 April 1917 under a free lease from Mr. John H. Blodgett and was placed in commission on 30 May 1917 at Boston, Mass., Ens. Courtland W. Babcock, USNRF, in command.

    Assigned to the 1st Naval District section patrol, Alacrity spent World War I conducting patrols from the Boston and Provincetown section bases. Following the armistice in November 1918, the motorboat continued naval service until she was finally returned to her owner on 28 April 1919, the second anniversary of her acquisition. Her name was struck from the Navy list that same day.

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    Coast Guard Cutter History: Blanchard was a steel-hulled yacht designed by Cox & Stevens. She was acquired from her owners to augment the coastal patrol during the U-boat blitz along the eastern seaboard in 1942. She was assigned to the Gulf Sea Frontier and served out of Key West, Florida. She conducted anti-submarine and escort of convoy patrols until she was decommissioned November, 1943.

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