USS Blue Bird (SP-465)
 | This article includes a improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (June 2017) ) |
 Blue Bird as a private motorboat sometime between 1911 and 1917.
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USS Blue Bird |
| Namesake | Previous name retained |
| Builder | Matthews Boat Company, Port Clinton, Ohio |
| Completed | 1911 |
| Acquired | 25 June 1917 |
| Commissioned | 17 December 1917 |
| Fate | Returned to owner 7 February 1919 |
| Notes | Operated as private motorboat Houqua, possibly Parthenia, and Blue Bird 1911-1917 and as Blue Bird 1919-1950 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Patrol vessel |
| Tonnage | 36 gross register tons |
| Length | 72 ft 0 in (21.95 m) |
| Beam | 12 ft 0 in (3.66 m) |
| Draft | 3 ft 4.5 in (1.029 m) mean |
| Propulsion | Internal combustion engine, two shafts |
| Speed | 12.0 knots |
| Complement | 11 |
| Armament |
|
USS Blue Bird (SP-465) was a
patrol vessel
in commission from 1917 to 1919.
Blue Bird was built as the private motorboat Houqua in 1911 by the Matthews Boat Company at Port Clinton, Ohio, for A. A. Augustus of Lakewood, Ohio. She may have been renamed Parthenia later, and eventually was renamed Blue Bird.
On 25 June 1917, the U.S. Navy acquired Blue Bird under a free
Brooklyn
, New York, as USS Blue Bird (SP-465) on 17 December 1917.
Assigned to the
Gravesend Bay on patrol duty, tallying the names and numbers of vessels in those waters. She underwent upkeep and repairs in the Marine Basin at Ulmer Park
, Brooklyn, from time to time.
Blue Bird apparently was
decommissioned early in 1919 and was returned to her owner on 7 February 1919. She thereafter remained in civilian
use until about 1950.
References
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
- Department of the Navy Naval History and Heritage Command Online Library of Selected Images: Civilian Ships: Blue Bird (American Motor Boat, 1911). Previously named Houqua and (perhaps) Parthenia. Served as USS Blue Bird (SP-465) in 1917-1919
- NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive: Blue Bird (SP 465)