USS Howarda (SP-144)

USS Howarda (SP-144) was an armed yacht that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919.

History
United States
Name:	USS Howarda
Namesake:	Previous name retained
Builder:	Essington Company, Pennsylvania
Completed:	1913
Acquired:	11 June 1917
Commissioned:	19 June 1917
Stricken:	31 March 1919
Fate:	Transferred to United States Coast Guard 3 May 1919[1] or 1 July 1919[2]
Notes:	Operated as private yacht Howarda 1913-1917 Served in U.S. Coast Guard as USCGC Vidette 1919-1922
General characteristics
Type:	Patrol vessel
Displacement:	38 tons
Length:	75 ft (23 m)
Beam:	16 ft (4.9 m)
Draft:	3 ft 4 in (1.02 m)
Propulsion:	Gasoline engine
Speed:	9 knots
Armament:	1 × 3-pounder gun

Howarda was built as a wooden-hulled civilian yacht in 1913 by the Essington Company in Essington, Pennsylvania. The U.S. Navy acquired Howarda from her owner, H. S. Kerner of Boca Grande, Florida, on 11 June 1917 for use as a patrol boat during World War I. She was commissioned on 19 June 1917 as USS Howarda (SP-144).

Assigned to the 7th Naval District, Howarda was based at Egmont Key, Florida, and patrolled waters in the Gulf of Mexico and Tampa Bay, serving as guard boat and section patrol craft.

Howarda was stricken from the Navy List and offered for sale on 31 March 1919, but later was withdrawn from sale. Instead, she was transferred to the United States Department of the Treasury for use by the United States Coast Guard on 3 May 1919[3] or 1 July 1919.[4] She served in the Coast Guard from 1919 to 1922 as cutter USCGC Vidette.