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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
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.
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.
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Historical Center home page.
Page made 6 November 2004
New image added 14 March 2005