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

Photo #  NH 102223:  Motor boat Skink underway, circa 1917


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

Skink (Motor Boat, 1917).
Served as USS Skink (SP-605) in 1917-1919

Skink, a 50-foot motor boat, was built at Neponset, Massachusetts, in 1917 for a civilian owner, with the probable intent to make her available to the Navy as a patrol craft. She was commissioned as USS Skink (SP-605) in mid-June 1917, even before the Navy formally acquired her. She served on patrol duties in the Boston area from then until shortly after the Armistice and was decommissioned in late November 1918. Skink was returned to her owner in February 1919.

This page features our only views of the motor boat Skink, which served as USS Skink (SP-605) 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 102223

Skink
(U.S. motor boat, 1917)

Probably photographed shortly before she was taken over by the Navy.
She was commissioned on 13 June 1917 as USS Skink (SP-605) and was returned to her owner on 24 February 1919.

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

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 86KB; 740 x 525 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 102224

Skink
(U.S. motor boat, 1917)

Underway, probably shortly before she was taken over by the Navy.
She was commissioned on 13 June 1917 as USS Skink (SP-605) and was returned to her owner on 24 February 1919.

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

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 94KB; 740 x 525 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 45268

USS Moosehead (ID # 2047)
(left)

In Lockwood's Basin, Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1918, with four patrol boats at right. The latter are (from outboard): USS Kiowa (SP-711), USS Skink (SP-605), USS Whistler (SP-784) and USS Lynx II (SP-730).
Photographed by Alton M. Blackinton, Boston.
This image forms the right half of a panorama with Photo # NH 45269.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 65KB; 740 x 435 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 42284

Lockwood's Basin, Boston, Massachusetts


Section Patrol boat base at Lockwood's Basin, circa 1918, with USS Moosehead (ID # 2047) alongside the pier in the right background. Among the patrol boats present is USS Skink (SP-605), in the left foreground.
Note Sailor sentry at the extreme right.
Photographed by Alton M. Blackinton, Boston.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 58KB; 740 x 430 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 42147

Lockwood's Basin, Boston, Massachusetts


View of the basin looking down the pier, taken by Alton M. Blackinton, Boston, circa 1918, showing USS Moosehead (ID # 2047) in the center and section patrol boats.
USS Alacrity (SP-206) is at the far left. The patrol boats in the left center foreground are (from left to right):
USS Kiowa (SP-711);
USS Skink (SP-605);
unidentified;
USS Whistler (SP-785); and
USS Lynx II (SP-730).

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 69KB; 740 x 445 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 42145

Lockwood's Basin, Boston, Massachusetts


View of the basin from on board USS Moosehead (ID # 2047), taken by Alton M. Blackinton, Boston, circa 1918, showing the marine railway, Carpenter's Shop and General Headquarters.
Four section patrol boats are tied up in the foreground, just beyond Moosehead's bow. They are (from left to right):
USS Lynx II (SP-730);
USS Whistler (SP-785);
unidentified; and
USS Skink (SP-605).

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 77KB; 740 x 445 pixels

 


Note: The Ships' Histories Branch of the Naval Historical Center holds another photograph of the motor boat Skink, taken from off her starboard side while she was underway, probably shortly before she was taken over by the Navy. She appears to be painted grey overall.
This print is mounted on the "SP" data card for Skink (SP-605).


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 31 December 2001
New images added 19 May 2002