Patrol vessel of the United States Navy
USS Whitecap
History United States Name USS Whitecap Namesake Previous name retained Builder Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company , Manitowoc, Wisconsin Completed 1916 Acquired 28 April 1917 Commissioned 8 May 1917 Decommissioned 11 March 1919 Fate Returned to owners 1 April 1919 Notes Operated as commercial fishing trawler Whitecap 1916-1917 and from 1919 General characteristics Type Patrol vessel Tonnage 303 tons Length 143 ft (44 m) Beam 22 ft 8 in (6.91 m) Draft 13 ft 5 in (4.09 m) (aft ) Speed 11 knots Complement 18 Armament
USS Whitecap (SP-340) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
USS Whitecap (left) towing a heavily laden schooner through icy waters. Whitecap was built in 1916 as a commercial fishing trawler of the same name by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company at Manitowoc, Wisconsin . The U.S. Navy acquired Whitecap from the Bay State Fisheries Company of South Boston, Massachusetts , on 28 April 1917 for World War I service as a patrol vessel, and commissioned her as USS Whitecap (SP-340) on 8 May 1917.
Initially attached to the 1st Naval District in northern New England , Whitecap began operations out of the 2nd Naval District in southern New England in late February 1918. During her naval career, Whitecap operated primarily out of Newport, Rhode Island , patrolling between that base and New London, Connecticut . Occasionally, her coastal patrols took her to Nantucket Island off Massachusetts, Block Island off Rhode Island, and Montauk Point , Long Island , New York , as well as to New York City . When not at sea keeping tabs on the coastwise traffic of naval and merchant vessels, Whitecap performed local tow and escort service out of Newport.
Decommissioned at Boston , Massachusetts, on 11 March 1919, Whitecap was returned to the Bay State Fisheries Company on 1 April 1919. Her name was struck from the Navy List , and Whitecap resumed her peacetime fishing pursuits
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