USS Bagheera

History
United States
NameUSS Bagheera
NamesakePrevious name retained; Bagheera was the leopard or panther in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book
BuilderHodgdon Brothers, Boothbay, Maine
Completed1907
Acquired22 June 1917
Commissioned24 June 1917
Stricken5 February 1919
FateReturned to owner 5 February 1919
NotesOperated as private schooner Bagheera 1907-1917 and from 1919
General characteristics
TypeSection patrol vessel
Tonnage30 Gross register tons
Length66 ft 0 in (20.12 m)
Beam10 ft 6 in (3.20 m)
Draft6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) mean
Installed power1 Mianus 2 cyl. gasoline engine rated at 20 horsepower
PropulsionSails plus engine
Sail planSchooner-rigged
Speed5.2 knots (6.0 mph; 9.6 km/h) (under power)
Complement9
Armament2 × 1-pounder guns

USS Bagheera (SP-963) was a United States Navy auxiliary schooner that served as a patrol vessel. She was in commission from 1917 to 1919.[1]

Bagheera was built in 1907 as the private schooner Bagheera, official number 204239, by Hodgdon Brothers at Boothbay, Maine. The two masted schooner with a sail area of 2,354 square feet had an auxiliary Mianus 2 cylinder gasoline engine rated at 20 horsepower.[2][3] The rated endurance of the schooner was 435 nautical miles (501 mi; 806 km) nautical miles with a fuel capacity of 190 gallons and cruising speed of 5.2 knots (6.0 mph; 9.6 km/h).[3] The 1914 Lloyd's Register of American Yachts showed the yacht's owner as E. W. Atkinson with Boston, Massachusetts as home port.[2]

On 22 June 1917, the U.S. Navy acquired her under a free lease from her owner, J. W. Hendrick of Chicago, Illinois, for use as a section patrol boat during World War I. She was commissioned on 24 June 1917 as USS Bagheera (SP-963). Assigned to the 5th Naval District, Bagheera served on patrol duties through the end of World War I.[1]

Bagheera was decommissioned at Norfolk, Virginia, after the war. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 5 February 1919 and returned to Hendrick the same day.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Naval History And Heritage Command (23 September 2005). "Bagheera (S. p. 963) 1917-1919". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History And Heritage Command. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  2. ^ a b Lloyd's Register of American Yachts. New York: Lloyd's Register of Shipping. 1914. p. 55.
  3. ^ a b Construction & Repair Bureau (Navy) (1 November 1918). Ships' Data U.S. Naval Vessels. Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 332–337. Retrieved 18 September 2018.