USS Louise No. 2 (SP-1230)

USS Louise No. 2 (SP-1230), sometimes written Louise # 2 and also referred to during her naval career as Louise and as Pilot Boat #2, was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.

Louise No. 2 around the time of acquisition by United States Navy in September 1917.
History
United States
Name: USS Louise No. 2
Namesake: Previous name retained
Builder: Ambrose Martin, East Boston, Massachusetts
Completed: 1900
Acquired:
  • Leased 10 September 1917
  • Delivered 19 September 1917
Commissioned: 20 September 1917
Decommissioned: 14 January 1919
Fate: Returned to owner 14 January 1919
Notes: Operated as civilian schooner-rigged pilot boat Louise No. 2 1900-1917 and from 1919
General characteristics
Type: Patrol vessel
Tonnage: 73 Gross register tons
Displacement: 73 ft (22 m)
Length: 104 ft (32 m)
Beam: 23 ft (7.0 m)
Draft: 13 ft 3 in (4.04 m)
Propulsion: Sails plus auxiliary engine
Sail plan: Schooner-rigged
Speed: 9 knots
Complement: 16
Armament: 1 × .30-caliber (7.62-mm) machine gun

Construction and service

Louise No. 2 was built as a civilian schooner-rigged pilot boat of the same name in 1900 by Ambrose Martin at East Boston, Massachusetts. She was a replacement for the ill-fated Columbia No. 8, that washed ashore at Sand Hills in Scituate, Massachusetts in the great 1898 Portland Gale.[1]

On 10 September 1917 the U.S. Navy acquired her under a free lease from her owner, the Boston Pilots Relief Society, for use as a section patrol boat during World War I. She was enrolled in the Naval Coast Defense Reserve on 15 September 1917, delivered to the Navy on 19 September 1917, and commissioned on 20 September 1917 as USS Louise No. 2 (SP-1230) with Ensign John M. Watson, USNRF, in command.[2][3]

Assigned to the 1st Naval District in northern New England and based at Boston, Massachusetts, Liberty III served for the rest of World War I as a pilot boat in Boston Harbor as she had in civilian use, guiding inbound and outbound ships through the defensive sea area of the Port of Boston.[2]

The Navy decommissioned Louise No. 2 on 14 January 1919 and returned her to the Boston Pilots Relief Society the same day.[2][3]

End of service

On December 9, 1924, the pilot boat Louise, No. 2, was withdrawn from pilot service and replaced with the pilot boat Pilot.[4]

On July 15, 1925, the pilot boat Louise was sold to W. R. Farrell of Long Wharf and converted into a yacht.[5]

Pilot Boat Pilot
Pilot Boat Pilot.
For the San Diego pilot boat, see Pilot (boat).

In 1924, the Boston pilot boat Pilot, was designed by yacht designer William Starling Burgess to replace the pilot-boat Louise.[6] She was launched in 30 September 1924. She was purchased by the Boston Pilots' Association and was in service for over fifty years.[7] She had the "No. 1" painted across her mainsail.

She was a spoon-bowed schooner equipped with a twin-screw diesel engine. Her length is 121 ft. and 98 ft at the water line with a 25 ft. beam.[8]

During World War II, the Pilot, worked for the United States Coast Guard.[9] After the war she returned to the Boston Pilots' Associations until the early 1970s. She was sold in 1976 to Norman D. Paulsen of California to servce as a research vessel. She was sold again in 1998 and her named changed to Highlander Sea. She was sold several times and in 2015 was purchased by Miles and Alex Pincus and converted into a maritime attraction in Brooklyn Bridge Park.[10]

See also

References
  1. Cunliffe, Tom (2001). Pilots, The World Of Pilotage Under Sail and Oar. Brooklin, Maine: WoodenBoat. p. 73. ISBN 9780937822692.
  2. "Louise No. 2 (S. P. 1230)". www.history.navy.mil. Retrieved 2020-09-05.
  3. "NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive Louise No. 2 (SP 1230)". www.navsource.org. Retrieved 2020-09-05.
  4. "New Pilot Boat Greeted By Steam Craft On Trial Trip Down Harbor". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 1924-12-09. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  5. "Sale of Pilot Boat Louise". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 1925-07-15. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  6. "New Pilot Boat Greeted By Steam Craft On Trial Trip Down Harbor". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 9 December 1924. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  7. Christian Science Monitor, 30 Sep 1924
  8. Eastman, Ralph M. (1956). Pilots and pilot boats of Boston Harbor. Boston, Massachusetts: Second Bank-State Street Trust Company.
  9. Daily Boston Globe, 14 Oct 1945
  10. "History". pilotbrooklyn.com. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
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