USS Turquoise
USS Turquoise (PY-18)
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History | |
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United States | |
Name |
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Owner | Chicago, Illinois |
Builder | Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia |
Laid down | 1 August 1922 |
Launched | 16 September 1922 |
Completed | November 1922 |
Fate | Acquired by the Navy 21 August 1940 |
History | |
United States | |
Name | Turquoise |
Namesake | Turquoise |
Acquired | 21 August 1940 |
Commissioned | 5 December 1940 |
Decommissioned | 24 December 1943 |
Renamed | Turquoise, 1 February 1941 |
Reclassified | Patrol Yacht, 1 February 1941 |
Refit | Gibbs Gas Engine Works, Jacksonville, Florida, 25 September 1940 |
Stricken | 7 June 1949 |
Identification |
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Fate | Transferred to Ecuador under the Lend-Lease Program 29 January 1944 |
History | |
Ecuador | |
Name | Nueve de Octobre |
Acquired | 29 January 1944, sold outright to Ecuador 13 May 1949 |
Renamed | 1949, Esmeraldas |
Fate | Ran aground in Guayaquil, Ecuador 9 September 1953 and declared a total loss |
General characteristics | |
Type |
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Displacement | 565 long tons (574 t) |
Length | 172 ft (52 m) |
Beam | 26 ft (7.9 m) |
Draft | 11 ft (3.4 m) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion | 2 × screws |
Speed | 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) |
Complement | 60 |
Armament |
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USS Turquoise (PY-18), was a yacht in commission in the United States Navy as a Patrol Yacht from 1940 to 1943.
Construction, acquisition, and commissioning
Ohio-a diesel yacht built in 1922 at
On 21 August 1940, as America girded for World War II, the United States Navy purchased Entropy from Robert V. G. Furman of Schenectady, New York, classified her a submarine chaser, and designated her PC-459. Since American submarine chasers were unnamed during World War II, the ship was known simply by her hull number, PC-459. The luxury craft entered the Gibbs-Jacksonville Yard at Jacksonville, Florida, on 25 September 1940 for conversion for naval use. On 5 December 1940, PC-459 was placed in commission at Jacksonville.[1]
Service history
Following commissioning, PC-459 put into
Upon arrival at
She remained in the vicinity of Trinidad until early December, when she returned to Charleston for refit. On 7 December, the day after she entered the navy yard, the
Her refit shortened, Turquoise steamed back to Puerto Rico and arrived on 20 December. She operated in the Caribbean on local patrols into the early spring, when she returned to Charleston for availability. Upon the conclusion of the overhaul, she set out for San Juan on 9 April 1942. Upon arrival, she received orders to escort a
Besides inshore patrol duties out of Trinidad, she also escorted local convoys in the Caribbean area, called at such ports as
Arriving on 24 December 1943, she was transferred under
Renamed Esmeraldas, after a port city in Ecuador, she served with the Ecuadorian Navy into 1953. Esmeraldas ran aground in the Guayas River, near Guayaquil, and was declared a total loss on 9 September 1953.[1]
Turquoise did not receive any battle stars for her World War II service.[1]
References
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
External links
Photo gallery of USS Turquoise (PY-18) at NavSource Naval History