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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USAV Moonlight Maid (FS-539)


Precedence of awards is from left to right
American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal
Freight-Supply Vessel
  • Built in 1900 at Bethlehem Steel, Elizabethport, N.J. as the steam yacht Columbia for J. Harvey Ladew, an executive of the Singer Sewing Machine Company
  • Launched, in 1903
  • Sold in 1915 Aemilius Jarvis for use by the Royal Canadian Navy as an armed yacht
  • Commissioned and renamed HMCS Stadacona in 1915
  • Stadacona served as naval launch, motor, depot ship under the command of LT. H.G. Jarvis RCN
  • In 1916 she patrolled the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland coasts
  • In 1919 she was transferred to the west coast via the Panama Canal and lost a rudder off the Oregon coast
  • She was used for seamanship training for Royal Naval College of Canada cadets
  • In 1920 she was paid off to the Minister of Fisheries and Marine as a fisheries protection vessel
  • In 1924 she was owned by Central America Shipping Company. Vancouver, BC.
  • Sold in 1924 to the Ocean Salvage Co., Vancouver, BC (Joseph W. Hobbs) and converted to a yacht and rum runner mother ship
  • Sold in 1925, renamed Kuyakuzmt
  • Rebuilt in 1929 as a yacht owned by Willis P. Dewees, Vancouver, BC., renamed Lady Stimson
  • In 1931 she was owned by Armour Salvage and Towing Company, Prince Rupert, BC., renamed Moonlight Maid
  • In 1941 she was owned by Foss Towing and Transportation Company, Seattle, WA., reflagged United States
  • In 1942 she acquired by the War Shipping Administration
  • Turned over to the US War Department, Quartermasters Corps
  • Allocated to the US Army Transportation Corps for service in Alaska
  • Commissioned in 1942 as USAV Moonlight Maid (FS-539)
  • Retired from US Army service date unknown
  • Final Disposition, in 1948 she was broken up in Seattle, WA.
    Specifications:
    Displacement 798 gross tons
    Length 168'
    Beam 33'
    Draft 12'
    Speed unknown
    Freight Capacity unknown
    Complement unknown
    Armament unknown
    Propulsion
    one reciprocating steam engine
    boiler(s)
    single propeller
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    HMCS Stradacona
    FS-539
    300753902    		 98k Canadian patrol vessel HMCS Stadacona (later USAV FS-539) at anchor, sometime between 1915 and 1919.
    Canadian Navy Heritage website. Image Negative Number CN-3275.File:HMCS Stadacona. File:HMCS Stadacona CN-3275.jpg (Unknown photographer) - Wikimedia Commons    		 Robert Hurst
    FS-539
    300753906    		 72k HMCS Stadacona at Halifax, Nova Scotia, circa 1916, showing her foc'sle, covered in snow after a winter patrol.
    Photo courtesy of Bigbird. HMCS Stadacona | Aircraft of World War II - WW2Aircraft.net Forums    		 Robert Hurst
    FS-539
    300753903    		 179k HMCS Stadacona at anchor at Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1917.
    File: HMCS Stadacona CN-3275.jpg - Wikimedia Commons. HMCS STADACONA | Ships of the Royal Canadian Navy (readyayeready.com)    		 Robert Hurst
    FS-539
    300753904    		 20k HMCS Stadacona (foreground), and HMCS Niobe an obsolete cruiser, employed as a floating facility for accommodation, training, and naval administration, at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Note that only two of Niobe's four funnels are standing, which indicates the photograph was taken after the December 1917 Halifax explosion.
    Photo courtesy George Metcalf Archival Collection. CWM 20080060-001_28c. WarMuseum.ca - Canada's Naval History - Explore History    		 Robert Hurst
    FS-539
    300753905    		 162k Group portrait of Commodore Sir Charles Coke R.N. and crew on the deck of HMCS Stadacona at Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, 1917.
    Commodore Coke and HMCS Stadacona crew at Sydney NS WWI - PICRYL - Public Domain Media Search Engine Public Domain Search    		 Robert Hurst
    Commercial Service
    FS-539
    300753901    		 42k SS Moonlight Maid underway, date and location unknown.
    Vancouver Maritime Museum    		 John Spivey
    There is no history record available for Moonlight Maid (USAV FS-539) at NavSource
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 24 May 2024