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Photo # NH 102839-KN:  Color-tinted photograph of USS Lydonia in a Caribbean port, 1919

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Lydonia (SP-700), 1917-1919.
Previously the civilian steam yacht Lydonia (1912)

USS Lydonia, a 497 gross ton patrol vessel, was built in 1912 at Wilmington, Delaware, as a privately-owned steam yacht. She was acquired by the Navy in August 1917 for World War I service and, following conversion to a warship, was placed in commission in late October. In November and December 1917 she steamed across the Atlantic to the European war zone. Based at Gibraltar for the rest of the conflict, Lydonia performed patrol and convoy escort missions in the eastern Atlantic and western Mediterranean. In February 1918 she made two attacks on suspected U-boats, but without positive result. On 8 May, however, she joined the British destroyer Basilisk in depth charging and sinking the German submarine UB-70. A few months after the 11 November 1918 Armistice stopped the fighting, Lydonia returned to the United States. She was decommissioned in August 1919 and transferred to the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.

This page features all the views we have concerning USS Lydonia (SP-700) and the civilian steam yacht Lydonia.

For photographs related to USS Lydonia's November 1917 trip from Bermuda to the Azores, see:

  • USS Margaret (SP-527) -- Voyage from the U.S. to the Azores, November 1917.


    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 1928

    Lydonia
    (American Steam Yacht, 1912)

    Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken prior to World War I. This yacht served as USS Lydonia (SP-700) in 1917-1919.
    Copied from "U.S. Navy Pictures World War", page 101.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 77KB; 740 x 375 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 46889

    USS Lydonia
    (SP-700)

    In Gibraltar harbor, during World War I.
    Note ship in the right background, painted in pattern camouflage.

    Courtesy of J. LaRocque Anderson, 1930.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 85KB; 740 x 435 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 46888

    USS Lydonia
    (SP-700)

    In Gibraltar harbor, during World War I.

    Courtesy of J. LaRocque Anderson, 1930.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 71KB; 740 x 395 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 46887

    USS Lydonia
    (SP-700)

    Rolling in heavy seas, during World War I.
    Note gun mounted at her deck edge.

    Courtesy of J. LaRocque Anderson, 1930.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 57KB; 740 x 420 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 102839-KN (color)

    USS Lydonia (SP-700)

    Reproduction of a color-tinted photograph taken while Lydonia was in a Caribbean port in 1919. Location is probably St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
    The star on her smokestack indicates that she was credited with sinking a German submarine during World War I.

    Donation of Fred Maidment, 2004.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 74KB; 740 x 445 pixels

     

    For photographs related to USS Lydonia's November 1917 trip from Bermuda to the Azores, see:

  • USS Margaret (SP-527) -- Voyage from the U.S. to the Azores, November 1917.


    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 6 November 2004
    New image added 14 March 2005