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Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

USC&GS Lydonia (CS 302)
ex-USS Lydonia (SP 700)



Call sign:
George - Sail - King - Pup


Lydonia served both the U. S. Navy and the Coast and Geodetic Survey.

Patrol Yacht:

  • Built in 1912 by Pusey and Jones, Wilmington, DE
  • Acquired by the Navy 21 August 1917
  • Commissioned USS Lydonia (SP 700), 27 October 1917
  • Decommissioned 7 August 1919 at Norfolk, VA and transferred to the Coast and Geodetic Survey (C&GS) the same day as USCGS Lydonia (CS 302)
  • Remained with the C&GS until 1947
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 497 t.
  • Length 214'
  • Beam 26'
  • Draft 11' 4½"
  • Speed 12 kts.
  • Complement 80
  • Armament: Four 3"/50 mounts and two machine guns
  • Propulsion: One single ended boiler, one 1,000hp vertical triple expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		Size Image Description Source
    Yacht Lydonia
    Lydonia 110 Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken prior to World War I
    Photo from "U.S. Navy Pictures World War", page 101
    U.S. Navy photo NH 1928    		 Original photo: Naval Historical Center
    Replacement photo: Robert Hurst
    USS Lydonia (SP 700)
    Lydonia 89k Rolling in heavy seas, during World War I
    Courtesy of J. LaRocque Anderson, 1930
    U.S. Navy Photo NH 46887    		 Naval Historical Center
    Lydonia 102k In Gibraltar harbor, during World War I
    Courtesy of J. LaRocque Anderson, 1930
    U.S. Navy photos NH 46888 and NH 46889
    Lydonia 133k
    Lydonia 112k Reproduction of a color-tinted photograph taken while Lydonia was in a Caribbean port in 1919. Location is probably St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. The star on her smokestack indicates that she was credited with sinking a German submarine during World War I.
    Donation of Fred Maidment, 2004
    U.S. Navy Photo NH 102839-KN
    USC&GS Lydonia (CS 302)
    Lydonia 76k . NOAA Website
    Lydonia 204k c. 1927
    NOAA photo theb0183 from NOAA's Fleet Then and Now - Sailing for Science Collection,Family of Captain George L. Anderson, C&GS    		 Mike Green
    Lydonia 304k c. 1940
    Antigua, Leeward Islands
    Reflections on the pier after a rain
    NOAA photo theb3911, NOAA's Fleet Then and Now - Sailing for Science Collection from the Family of Vice Admiral H. Arnold Karo, C&GS    		 Robert Hurst
    Lydonia 136k c. 1941 NOAA Website
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Richard Phillip McCullough, USN - USNA Class of 1904
    Awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal (1918) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		27 October 1917 - 13 June 1918
    02CAPT John G. Berry, USCG - Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) and the Portuguese Commander of the Military Order of the Avis13 June 1918 - 11 August 1918
    03CAPT Philip Francis Roach, USCG - Awarded the Navy Cross (1918)
    Retired as Commodore    		July 1918 - 6 February 1919
    04LT Claude Favrot Reynaud, USNRF - USNA Class of 1912
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1919)    		1919
    05LCDR Jean Hodgkins Hawley, USC&GS - Retired as Rear Admiral1923
    06LCDR H. Arnold Karo, USC&GS - Retired as Vice Admiral1941
    07LCDR V. Ralph Sobieralski, USC&GS1942
    ??LCDR Earl O. Heaton, USC&GS
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves, Joe Radigan and Bill Gonyo
    View the Lydonia (SP 700)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by David Wright
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