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Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

Harvard (SP 209)



Civilian call sign (1919):
King - Mike - Charlie - Jig
Patrol Yacht:

  • The secondHarvard was laid down 5 October 1893 as the yacht Eleanor by Bath Iron Works, Bath, ME for William A. Slater of Norwich, CT
  • Launched 7 May 1894 (The biggest American yacht of her day)
  • Delivered 6 October 1894
  • Sold in 1900 to Charles F. Baker, Jr. and renamed Wacouta
  • Acquired by the Navy in April 1917
  • Renamed and commissioned USS Harvard (SP 209) 10 May 1917
  • Decommissioned and returned to her owner 26 July 1919
  • Sold in 1921 to Greek owners and renamed Athinia, used as an inter-island passenger steamer between Greece and Italy
  • Sunk by German aircraft 22 April 1941 at Itea, Greece
  • Hulk scrapped after the war.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 803 t. (Changed in 1921 to 968 t.)
  • Length 243'
  • Draft 12' 6"
  • Beam 32'
  • Speed 12 kts.
  • Complement 37
  • Armament: Four 3-pounder
  • Propulsion: Three masted bark rigged with 11,000 square feet of canvas, two Scotch boilers, one 1,000ihp vertical triple-expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Yacht Eleanor
    Harvard 78k Historical Collections of the Great Lakes
    Harvard 219k Maunsel White
    Harvard 127k
    Harvard 135k
    Harvard 108k c. 1898
    Yacht Wacouta
    Harvard 92k Photographed prior to World War I as Wacouta by Edwin Levick, New York
    U.S. Navy photo NH 89409    		 Naval Historical Center
    USS Harvard (SP 209)
    Harvard 50k
    Namesake:

    Harvard, a college founded at Cambridge, MA, in 1636, was named for John Harvard, a general benefactor. Opened in 1638, Harvard University now includes a large group of graduate and professional schools as well as the college and is one of the world's leading educational institutions

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 10 February 2021
    Harvard 69k Photographed during World War I by Edwin Levick, New York
    U.S. Navy photo NH 101778    		 Naval Historical Center
    Corsair/Harvard 49k Fine screen halftone reproduction of a photograph taken while she was fitting out for World War I service. c. May 1917. Next ship inboard is USS Corsair (SP 159).
    Courtesy of Alfred Cellier, 1977.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 85734
    Commanding Officers
    01LT Archibald Graham Stirling, USN - USNA Class of 1906
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Commander    		May 1917
    02LCDR Herbert Reynolds Alexander Borchardt, USN1918
    03LCDR Samuel Wilder King, USN - USNA Class of 1910
    Retired as Captain - Eleventh Territorial Governor of Hawaii (1953 - 1957)    		1919
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    View the Harvard (SP 209)
    DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway website
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by David Wright
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