USS Raccoon (SP-506)

The first USS Raccoon (SP-506) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.

History
United States
Name:	USS Raccoon
Namesake:	Previous name retained
Builder:	George Lawley & Son, Neponset, Massachusetts
Launched:	1915
Completed:	1915
Acquired:	5 May 1917
Commissioned:	5 May 1917
Fate:	Returned to owner 17 January 1919
Notes:	Operated as private motorboat Raccoon 1915-1917 and 1919-1924 and Constance 1924-1925
General characteristics
Type:	Patrol vessel
Tonnage:	16 gross register tons
Length:	50 ft (15 m)
Beam:	10 ft 1 in (3.07 m)
Draft:	3 ft 6 in (1.07 m)
Speed:	22 knots
Complement:	6
Armament:	1 × 1-pounder gun 1 × machine gun

Raccoon was launched in 1915 as a private wooden-hulled motorboat of the same name by George Lawley & Son at Neponset, Massachusetts, and completed that year. On 5 May 1917, the U.S. Navy acquired her from her owner, Francis W. Fabyan of Cambridge, Massachusetts, for use as a section patrol vessel during World War I. She was commissioned as USS Raccoon (SP-506) the same day with Chief Boatswain's Mate M. B. Saportas in command.

Raccoon operated on section patrol duty at New London, Connecticut, until December 1917, when she was transferred to Newport, Rhode Island. She patrolled at Newport through the end of World War I.

Raccoon's armament was removed on 3 December 1918, and she was returned to Fabyan on 17 January 1919 and resumed service as a private motorboat. Following two subsequent changes in ownership, she was renamed Constance in 1924. She disappeared from mercantile registers in 1925.