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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo #  NH 102005:  Motor boat Letter B, prior to her World War I Navy service


Online Library of Selected Images:
-- CIVILIAN SHIPS --

Letter B (Motor Boat, 1912).
Served as USS Letter B (SP-732) in 1917-1919

Letter B, a 40-foot "runabout" type motor boat, was built in 1912 by the Elco Company at Bayonne, New Jersey, as a civilian pleasure craft. The Navy acquired her in May 1917 and placed her in commission as USS Letter B (SP-732) in October of that year. Based at Norfolk, Virginia, she served throughout World War I as a patrol boat and aircraft tender. No longer required after the end of the conflict, Letter B was returned to her owner in April 1919.

This page features our only views of the motor boat Letter B, which served as USS Letter B (SP-732) in 1917-1919.


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 102005

Letter B
(U.S. motor boat, 1912)

Photographed prior to her World War I service. Acquired by the Navy on 7 May 1917, she entered service on 20 October 1917 as USS Letter B (SP-732) and was returned to her owner on 29 April 1919.

The original print is in National Archives' Record Group 19-LCM.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 82KB; 740 x 460 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 99543

Letter B
(American Motor Boat, 1912)

In port with other small craft and a yacht, probably at the time she was acquired by the Navy in May 1917.
This craft served as USS Letter B (SP-732) from October 1917 to April 1919.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 51KB; 740 x 460 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

Page made 17 November 2001
New image added 16 September 2004