USS ''Apache'' (SP-729) was the first to be delivered of eight motor boats built by

Herreshoff Manufacturing Company Nathanael Greene Herreshoff (March 18, 1848 – June 2, 1938) was an American naval architect, mechanical engineer, and yacht design innovator. He produced a succession of undefeated America's Cup defenders between 1893 and 1920. Biography Her ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

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ordered and financed by members of the Eastern Yacht Club of

Marblehead, Massachusetts Marblehead is a coastal New England town in Essex County, Massachusetts, along the North Shore. Its population was 20,441 at the 2020 census. The town lies on a small peninsula that extends into the northern part of Massachusetts Bay. Attache ...

. The boats were designed by Albert Loring Swasey and

Nathanael Greene Herreshoff Nathanael Greene Herreshoff (March 18, 1848 – June 2, 1938) was an American naval architect, mechanical engineer, and yacht design innovator. He produced a succession of undefeated America's Cup defenders between 1893 and 1920. Biography Her ...

with the intention that the boats be used by the Navy as patrol craft and built with Navy approval of the design. ''Apache'', as were the other boats, bore names under construction chosen by the owners and were then given the

Section Patrol A Section Patrol Craft was a civilian vessel registered by the United States Navy for potential wartime service before, during, and shortly after World War I. Historical overview The SP/ID registration system In 1916, with World War I raging a ...

numbers on Navy acceptance and activation. The names were dropped after a period and all the boats then bore only the S.P. numbers. ''Apache'' was financed and ordered by Robert F. Herrick, a Harvard graduate and also Harvard's rowing coach, who had previously sold his smaller ''Gypsy'' to the Navy. The boat operated in Boston's 1st Naval District Section Patrol as a patrol and dispatch boat after being accepted by the Navy. The boat, along with several of the other Herreshoff/Eastern Yacht Club boats, were designated for shipment to France but the order was apparently cancelled due to the end of the war. After the war the boat was sent south to Florida finally in Key West where the boat was decommissioned and transferred to the

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on 22 November 1919 and on 16 December renamed ''Arrow''. The boat was towed to Tampa where it was reclassified to harbor launch and given the designation AB-2 without a name. The launch was found unfit for service and turned over to the

United States Shipping Board The United States Shipping Board (USSB) was established as an emergency agency by the 1916 Shipping Act (39 Stat. 729), on September 7, 1916. The United States Shipping Board's task was to increase the number of US ships supporting the World War ...

for disposal 18 March 1925.

Construction and design

''Apache'' was among eight motor boats that were financed by members of the Eastern Yacht Club of Marblehead, Massachusetts to be built by the

, to a design by Albert Loring Swasey and Nathanael Greene Herreshoff that had been approved by the Navy with the intention the boats be used as patrol craft in event of war. The boat was contracted on 10 March 1917, built for Robert F. Herrick of Boston as ''Herreshoff No. 311'' and was the first of the eight to be completed. The single design for all eight boats, termed the "62 footers" in popular reference, was for a wooden hull in overall length, on water line, breadth, with a mean draft of (Herreschoff) or (Navy). Navy gives displacement as 12 tons. Propulsion was by two 200 horsepower, eight cylinder Sterling gasoline engines driving two propellers. The contract speed was for with ''Apache'' over a measured mile course making better than . The Navy rated the boat at . The boat had a raised foredeck with spaces accessible through the conning tower or from the side decks. The remainder of the boat has a cabin with a small cockpit at the stern. A unique design feature was a dummy stack, unnecessary on a gasoline powered boat, that was actually an access to the engine compartment. That access is seen with the aft facing door open in the photograph of USS War Bug (SP-1795). The Navy gave fuel capacity as for a range of .

Navy service

The U.S. Navy acquired ''Apache'' from Herrick on 23 May 1917 before the scheduled completion date of 12 June 1917 and launch on 13 June 1917. She was commissioned as USS ''Apache'' (SP-729), third Navy ship of that name, at Boston on 7 July 1917.

World War I

''Apache'' served as a

dispatch boat Dispatch boats were small boats, and sometimes large ships, tasked to carry military dispatches from ship to ship or from ship to shore or, in some cases from shore to shore. Dispatch boats were employed when other means of transmitting a message w ...

and local patrol boat at Boston, operating under the aegis of the

1st Naval District The naval district was a U.S. Navy military and administrative command ashore. Apart from Naval District Washington, the Districts were disestablished and renamed Navy Regions about 1999, and are now under Commander, Naval Installations Command ...

, through early October 1918, by which time her name had been changed to USS ''SP-729''. Due to an urgent need for craft such as ''SP-729'' at

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, France, an order dated 14 October 1918 went out from

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, to Boston, directing the

Commandant Commandant ( or ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ran ...

of the 1st Naval District to ready six

section patrol A Section Patrol Craft was a civilian vessel registered by the United States Navy for potential wartime service before, during, and shortly after World War I. Historical overview The SP/ID registration system In 1916, with World War I raging a ...

boats – USS ''Commodore'' (SP-1425), USS ''Cossack'' (SP-695), USS ''War Bug'' (SP-1795), USS ''Sea Hawk'' (SP-2365), USS ''Kangaroo'' (SP-1284), and ''SP-729''—to be shipped to France as deck

cargo Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including trans ...

along with spare parts to keep them operational. However, this proposed movement appears to have been cancelled, probably because of the

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...

with

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of 11 November 1918 that ended World War I and eliminated the need for more U.S. Navy patrol craft in

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Postwar

Instead, ''SP-729'' headed south via the inland waterway in December 1918, bound for

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, probably for duty as a

crash boat Crash Rescue Boat is a name used in the United States to describe military high-speed offshore rescue boats, similar in size and performance to motor torpedo boats, used to rescue pilots and aircrews of crashed aircraft. During World War II th ...

. ''SP-729'' was decommissioned at Key West, Florida, Florida, and stricken from the

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on 17 May 1919. She was turned over to the United States Coast Guard on 22 November 1919.

United States Coast Guard service

The Coast Guard renamed the boat ''Arrow'' on 16 December 1919 and she was commissioned into the Coast Guard as USCGC ''Arrow'' at Key West on 25 August 1921. Soon thereafter the Coast Guard cutter ''Tallapoosa'' (WPG-52) towed ''Arrow'' to Tampa, Florida. While ''Arrow'' was serving at Tampa, she was reclassified as a harbor launch and designated as the unnamed harbor launch AB-2 on 6 November 1923. ''AB-2'' later was found unfit for further Coast Guard service and was transferred to the United States Shipping Board on 18 March 1925 for disposal.

The Eastern Yacht Club 62 footers

The Eastern Yacht Club boats with sponsors were: — Robert F. Herrick — Charles P. Curtis — Frank B. McQuesten — Henry A. Morss, Charles A. Morss, Everett Morss — Charles F. Ayer, Osborne Howes, Frank S. Eaton, Oliver Ames — Carll H. Tucker — Flag officers of the Eastern Yacht Club, Herbert M. Sears, Max Agassiz, J. S. Lawrence — Arthur Winslow, Edwin S. Webster, Charles A. Stone Plus one built to the design independently: — Felix Warburg

References

External links

NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive USCGC AB-2 ex-USCGC Arrow ex-USS SP-729 ex-USS Apache (SP 729)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Apache (SP-729) Patrol vessels of the United States Navy World War I patrol vessels of the United States Ships built in Bristol, Rhode Island 1917 ships