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NavSource Online: Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Photo Archive

Rhodolite (PYc-19)

Call sign:
Nan - Baker - Able - Love

Coastal Patrol Yacht:

Built by Bath Iron Works, Bath, ME (YN 144)

Laid down, 06 October 1930

Launched, 30 April 1931

Delivered as yacht Seapine (ON 230819), 14 July 1931

Was built for Frank H. Goodyear, Jr., but he died in a car accident before delivery

Registered to Theodore C. Hollander, Boston, MA, September 1931

Registered to Jacob Ruppert, New York, NY, renamed Yankee, 1936

Registered to Everett P. Larsh, Dayton, OH, reverted to Seapine, February 1939

Purchased by Navy from Larsh at Tampa, FL, 29 December 1941

Converted for Naval service at Tampa Shipbuilding Co., Tampa, FL

Commissioned USS Rhodolite (PYc-19), 14 March 1942

Sailed from Tampa to San Diego via Panama Canal, 26 March - April 1942

Sailed from San Diego to Pearl Harbor, 25 May-02 June 1942

Assigned to 14th Naval District on patrol and weather (from October 1943) duties, June 1942 - November 1945

Decommissioned at San Diego, CA, 29 December 1945

Laid up at San Pedro, CA

Struck from the Naval Register, 21 January 1946

Advertised for sale by the Maritime Commission in the 21 October 1946 edition of the Miami News

Transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal, 06 February 1947

Registered to R. Vergottis under Panama flag, renamed Calypso

Later renamed Corfu, Aleta II, Pollyanna and Yanbu

Believe still extant as Yanbu

Specifications:

Displacement 485 gross tons, 282 net tons, 588 tons (full load)

Length 149' 11" waterline, 154' 10" overall

Beam 26' 0"

Draft 10' 6"

Speed 11 knots

Complement 56

Armament: One 3"/50 dual purpose mount, four machine guns

Propulsion: Two 550hp Cooper Bessemer JR-8 8-cylinder diesel engines, two shafts

Click on thumbnail for full size image	Size	Image Description	Source
Seapine
12141903	52k	Seapine on the stocks at Bath Iron Works, 1931.	Dave Wright
12141904	47k	Seapine just after launching, 30 April 1931.	Dave Wright
12141905	32k	Seapine fitting out at Bath Iron Works, spring 1931.	Dave Wright
12141906	281k	Joe Selby painting of Seapine as completed.	Dave Wright
USS Rhodolite (PYc-19)
12141901	134k	Photographed during World War II Courtesy of D. M. McPherson, 1974 Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 81387	Mike Green
12141902	89k	Rhodolite moored among a variety of different naval vessels at Pearl Harbor, 22 November 1944. She arrived at Pearl Harbor from Weather Station "D" 15 November for a refit, including installation of new sound gear. The refit was completed 16 January 1945. PHNY photo 6725-44 (cropped)	Researcher @ Large
Postwar
12141907	495k	As Aleta II, circa 1980s.	Dave Wright

Commanding Officers
01	LT(JG)/LT George Reith, D-VG USNR	14 March 1942 - ????
02	LCDR Percival Florian DeCremer, D-VG USNR	(May 1943)-????
03	LT William Abraham Saleebey, D-VG USNR	(June 1943)-????
04	LT Bruce Lundie Fleming, D-VS USNR	(Jan 1944)-????
05	LT William C Robinson, Jr., D-VS USNR	(June 1944)-????
06	LT Robert M Murphy, USNR	(April 1945)-????
07	LT(JG) Roy Lee Dial, Jr., D-VS USNR	(July 1945) - 29 December 1945

Courtesy Dave Wright

View the Rhodolite (PYc-19)
DANFS History entry located at the Naval History & Heritage Command website

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This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by David L. Wright

Last Updated 31 March 2026