USS Ameera

USS Ameera (SP-453) was a United States Navy Section patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.

USS Ameera (SP-453) during World War I.
History
United States
Name: USS Ameera
Namesake: Previous name retained
Builder: Mathis Yacht Building Company, Camden, New Jersey
Completed: 1917
Acquired: 23 July 1917
Commissioned: 11 August 1917
Decommissioned: September 1919
Fate: Destroyed by fire 28 May 1920
General characteristics
Type: Section patrol vessel
Tonnage: 28 GRT
Displacement: 13.4 tons
Length: 71 ft 3 in (21.72 m)
Beam: 10 ft 8 in (3.25 m)
Draft: 3 ft 6 in (1.07 m)
Speed: 25 knots (29 mph; 46 km/h)
Complement: 8
Armament:

Ameera was built as an express cruiser in 1917 by the Mathis Yacht Building Company at Camden, New Jersey from Bowes and Mower designs for Alexander Sellers of Ardmore, Pennsylvania.[1][2] The cruiser was Mathis hull number 63 and, upon registration, was assigned official number 214866 and signal letters LGTM.[3][4]

Contemporary Navy data shows the vessel had a 1,000 gallon fuel capacity for a cruising range of 400 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 25 knots (29 mph; 46 km/h) powered by two Dusenberg six cylinder engines driving two propellers.[5]

On 23 July 1917, the U.S. Navy purchased Ameera for $31,000 for use as a section patrol vessel during World War I.[5] She was commissioned as USS Ameera (SP-453) on 11 August 1917[note 1] with Chief Boatswain's Mate C. E. Pearson in command.[6]

Assigned to the 4th Naval District, Ameera carried out patrol duties there for the remainder of World War I. After the war ended on 11 November 1918, she performed dispatch boat and port duties at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, until she was placed in reduced commission at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in June 1919. On 24 July 1919, Ameera was ordered to be sold. She was decommissioned in September 1919 and sold at auction on 27 April 1920 to Mr. T. E. Mitten.[6]

On the night of 28 May 1920 a major fire at the Essington Shipbuilding Company lying just south of Philadelphia destroyed buildings and numerous boats, including almost total destruction of Ameera.[2]

Footnotes
  1. Ships' Data U.S. Naval Vessels has 13 August.

References
  1. Shell, J. Kinzer, Jr. (February 1917). "Outlook in Southern New Jersey". The Rudder. Vol. 33 no. 2. p. 75.
  2. "Scenes at Essington, Pa., After Shipyard Fire". Motor Boat. Vol. 19 no. 12. 25 June 1920. p. 28.
  3. Colton, Tim (6 June 2018). "Mathis Yacht Building, Camden and Gloucester City NJ". ShipbuildingHistory. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  4. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Navigation (1918). Fiftieth Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States; Part VI. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 86.
  5. Construction & Repair Bureau (Navy) (1 November 1918). Ships' Data U.S. Naval Vessels. pp. 326–331.
  6. Naval History And Heritage Command (28 November 2017). "Ameera (S. P. 453) 1917–1919". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History And Heritage Command. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
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