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Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

Althea (SP 218)

Motorboat:

  • The second Althea was built in 1907 by the William Whitlesey Co., Steinway, Long Island, NY
  • Commissioned 12 May 1917
  • Delivered to the Navy 15 June 1917
  • Struck from the Navy Register 2 August 1919
  • Sunk 18 March 1920
  • Sold to G. F. Colton of Detroit, MI for salvage 12 May 1920
  • Registered in 1921 to G. F. Colton of Detroit as the freight boat Althea out of Detroit
  • Abandoned in 1926.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 25 t.
  • Length 60'
    1921 - 51.6'
  • Beam 12'
  • Draft 3' 6"
    1921 - 5.4'
  • Speed 9.5 kts.
  • Complement: Nine
    1921 - Four
  • Armament: One 3-pounder and two machine guns
  • Propulsion: One 32hp 4-cylinder gasoline engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Althea 200k
    Namesake:

    Althea - A shrub of the mallow family; the rose of sharon; a hollyhock

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 5 March 2022
    Althea 94k At anchor, probably in the Great Lakes area, prior to World War I
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99299    		 Naval Historical Center
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships:

    The second Althea (SP-218)--a motorboat constructed in 1907 at Steinway (Long Island), N.Y., by the William Whitlesey Co.--was formally purchased by the Navy on 15 June 1917 from Mr. James H. Moore more than a month after she had been taken over and commissioned on 12 May 1917, Ens. E. L. Anderson, USNRF, in command.

    Assigned to the section patrol in the 9th Naval District, she conducted operations from her base at Detroit, Mich. Laid up for the winter on 14 November 1917, Althea returned to duty in May 1918. On 2 August 1919, her name was struck from the Navy list, and she was laid up at the Naval Training Station Detroit. There, she remained awaiting sale until 18 March 1920 when she sank as a result of ice. The motorboat, still under water, was sold for salvage on 12 May 1920.

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