USS Scoter (SP-20)

The first USS Scoter (SP-20), originally mistakenly designated both SP-20 and SP-53, was an armed motorboat that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 until 1918 or 1919.

Scoter as a private pleasure craft in 1916-1917, prior to her United States Navy service, passing the submarine USS L-1 (SS-40). The destroyer USS Monaghan (DD-32), left, and the submarine USS L-3 (SS-42), right, are in the background.
History
United States
Name:	USS Scoter
Namesake:	Previous name retained
Builder:	George Lawley & Son, Neponset, Massachusetts
Completed:	1916
Acquired:	21 April 1917
Commissioned:	21 April 1917
Stricken:	1919
Fate:	Unknown; probably disposed of in Europe 1919
Notes:	Operated as private motorboat Scoter 1916-1917 Originally mistakenly designated as both SP-20 and SP-53; "SP-53" designation later reassigned to USS Boy Scout (SP-53)
General characteristics
Type:	Patrol vessel
Tonnage:	21 tons
Length:	53 ft 3 in (16.23 m)
Beam:	11 ft 6 in (3.51 m)
Draft:	3 ft (0.91 m)
Speed:	23 knots
Armament:	1 × 1-pounder gun 1 × .30-caliber (7.62-millimeter) machine gun

Scoter was built in 1916 by George Lawley & Son at Neponset, Massachusetts, as a private motorboat of the same name. She was enrolled in the Naval Coast Defense Reserve.

Her owner, J. L. Saltonstall of Boston, Massachusetts, delivered her to the U.S. Navy on 21 April 1917 for World War I service. She was commissioned as USS Scoter (SP-20) the same day. Originally, the Navy inadvertently gave her two designations, SP-20 and SP-53, but the designation SP-53 was later transferred to another patrol boat, USS Boy Scout (SP-53).

Assigned to duty with U.S. naval forces in Europe, Scoter was carried across the Atlantic Ocean on a larger ship. Records of her service after that are lacking; she probably operated in French waters into 1918. Unaccounted for, she was dropped from the Navy List in 1919; she probably was disposed of in Europe that year.