USLHT Camellia

Early in her career, Camellia operated in the Eighth Lighthouse District along the United States Gulf Coast.[2] Her home port was at New Orleans, Louisiana.[2]

The United States entered World War I on 6 April 1917, and by executive order Camellia was among a number of lighthouse tenders the Lighthouse Service transferred to the United States Department of War on 11 April 1917 for United States Army service on coastal defense duties. Among other things, the lighthouse tenders deployed submarine nets to defend harbors and those outfitted with mine-planting gear – as Camellia had been even before the declaration of war – also placed controlled minefields to protect harbors from penetration by enemy vessels.[2]

On 1 July 1917, the U.S. Department of War transferred Camellia to the United States Department of the Navy for United States Navy wartime service.[3] Commissioned into Navy service as USS Camellia, she operated as a patrol vessel in the Eighth Naval District along the U.S. Gulf Coast through the end of the war on 11 November 1918 and during its immediate aftermath.[3] The Navy transferred her back to the Lighthouse Service on 1 July 1919.[3]

As USLHT Camellia, the ship returned to lighthouse tender duty. In 1933, her original steam engines were replaced by Atlas-Imperial diesel engines.[1]

On 1 July 1939, the U.S. Lighthouse Service was abolished and the United States Coast Guard took over its responsibilities and assets, and Camellia thus became part of the Coast Guard fleet as USCGC Camellia.[1]

On 1 November 1941, with World War II raging in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, the U.S. Coast Guard was transferred to the control of the U.S. Navy under Executive Order 8929, and Camellia thus again came under U.S. Navy control only weeks before the United States entered the war on 7 December 1941. She was assigned the hull classification symbol WAGL-206 in 1942.[1]

Returned to U.S. Coast Guard control after the conclusion of World War II, Camellia was decommissioned on 29 December 1947.[1]

The United States Government transferred the ship to the Dominican Republic in 1949.[1] In Dominican Navy service, she was renamed Capotillo (FB 101)[1] and reclassified as "Service Craft No. 1."[1] She was still in service in the 1980s, but her subsequent fate is unknown.[1]

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• Photo gallery of USCGC Camellia (WAGL 206) ex-USLHT Camellia at NavSource Naval History
• Henry, Ellen, Dr., "Lighthouses In World War I: Transition Into War," American Lighthouse, Winter 2014