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Patrol Yacht Photo Archive

Sylph (PY 12)



Call sign:
Nan - Easy - Baker - Queen

ex-YP-71

Patrol Yacht:

  • The fourth Sylph was built in 1929 as Intrepid by George Lawley and Sons, Inc., Neponset, MA for Walter P. Murphy
  • Acquired by the Navy 16 July 1940 and classified as a District Patrol Craft, YP-71
  • Renamed Sylph 19 July 1940 and reclassified as a Patrol Yacht, PY-12
  • Commissioned 1 October 1940 at New York
  • Decommissioned 19 December 1945 and laid up at Charleston, SC
  • Struck from the Navy list 8 January 1946
  • Advertised for sale by the Maritime Commission in the 21 October 1946 edition of the Miami News
  • Transferred 31 December 1946 to the War Shipping Administration for disposal
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 810 t.
  • Length 205'
  • Beam 33' 10"
  • Draft 16' 10"
  • Speed 11 kts.
  • Complement 88
  • Armament: One 3" mount, two .50 cal. machine guns and four .30 cal. machine guns
  • Propulsion: Two Winton diesel engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Intrepid
    Sylph 80k Launching
    Sylph 91k
    USS Sylph (PY 12)
    Sylph 42k
    Namesake:

    Sylph (also called sylphid) is a mythological air spirit. The term originates in the 16th-century works of Paracelsus, who describes sylphs as (invisible beings) of the air, his elementals of air

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Sylph 30k
    Sylph 96k
    Sylph 72k
    Sylph 63k
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Harry Lynnwood Hicks, USN - USNA Class of 19271 October 1940 - 7 February 1942
    02LCDR Hampton Maturin Ericsson, USN - USNA Class of 19247 February 1942 - July 1943
    03LCDR Robert G. Snider, USNRJuly 1943 - 6 November 1943
    04LCDR William C. Taylor, USNR6 November 1943 - September 1944
    05LT Paul A. Haberkorn, USNRSeptember 1944 - June 1945
    06LT Charles R. Brennan, USNRJune 1945 - 19 December 1945
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler
    View the Sylph (PY 12)
    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 Tom Bateman
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