USS ''Mizpah'' (PY-29) was a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

patrol yacht. Constructed in 1926, the vessel was constructed as the pleasure yacht ''Savarona''. In 1929 it was renamed ''Allegro'' and then ''Mizpah'' for use on the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

. The vessel was acquired by the United States Navy in 1942 and converted to a warship and commissioned the same year. ''Mizpah'' served as a convoy escort along the United States East Coast before becoming a

school ship A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house classr ...

in 1944. Following the end of the war, the vessel returned to private operation in 1946 until 1967 when ''Mizpah'' was laid up with a broken

crankshaft A crankshaft is a mechanical component used in a piston engine to convert the reciprocating motion into rotational motion. The crankshaft is a rotating shaft containing one or more crankpins, that are driven by the pistons via the connecting ...

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

, Florida. An attempt to save the ship proved futile and ''Mizpah'' was scuttled off the coast of Florida as an

artificial reef An artificial reef is a human-created underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, to control erosion, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, or improve surfing. Many re ...

in 1968. The wreck is now a popular dive site.

Service history

The ship was berthed in 1926 from the parts of an abandoned new

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...

, as the pleasure yacht ''Savanarola'' by the

Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the largest industrial employer in Virginia, and sole designer, builder and refueler of United States Navy aircraft carriers and one of two providers of U.S. Navy ...

Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the Uni ...

. The yacht, originally constructed for the United States Navy but due to naval treaties was prevented from being completed. The still unbuilt vessel was sold to Mrs. Cadwalader of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Pennsylvania. After completion the vessel was given the name ''Sequoia'' before being sold to James Elverson who renamed it ''Allegro''. In 1929 it was sold to

Eugene F. McDonald Eugene F. McDonald (1886–1958) founded Zenith Radio in 1921, a major American radio and electronics manufacturer for most of the twentieth century. Early life Eugene F. McDonald Jr. was born March 11, 1886, in Syracuse, New York, the son of Fr ...

, Pennsylvania, founder and president of the Zenith Radio Corporation, who used it both as a

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

residence and a floating laboratory on which to test his electronics company's new products. One of the largest yachts on the

in its Jazz Age heyday, the ship was renamed ''Mizpah'' in 1929.

United States Navy service

''Mizpah'' was acquired by the

on 16 March 1942 and converted to a warship at

Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding Company Bay Shipbuilding Company (BSC) is a shipyard and dry dock company in Sturgeon Bay, Door County, Wisconsin. As of 2015, Bay Ships was a subsidiary of Fincantieri Marine Group and produces articulated tug and barges, OPA-90 compliant double hul ...

, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, with Lieutenant Stephen M. Etnier in command. It was commissioned USS ''Mizpah'' (PY-29) on 26 October 1942. ''Mizpah'' departed Sturgeon Bay on 16 November 1942 for service as a convoy escort along the eastern coast of the United States between

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Key West, Florida Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Sigsbee Park, Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Isla ...

until July 1944. From August 1944 until April 1945, ''Mizpah'' served as a navigation

from the Amphibious Training Base at Little Creek, Virginia, training officers to sail amphibious vessels in the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the ...

region. ''Mizpah'' underwent conversion to a

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts and was employed as such by Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet. ''Mizpah'' became the flagship of Rear Admiral Oliver M. Hustvedt at Portland, Maine, on 28 May 1945 under the command of Lt. Stephen M. Etnier. Hustvedt was succeeded by Rear Admiral Frank E. Beatty, Jr., on 4 September 1945. In mid-October, 1945, Lt. Etnier was succeeded by Lieutenant D. Dudley Bloom, who sailed ''Mizpah'' from Portland, Maine, south to

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

, arriving on 10 December 1945. She was decommissioned on 16 January 1946 and transferred to the United States War Shipping Administration (WSA) on 25 September 1946 for disposal.

Final years

The WSA then sold her to a private Honduran corporation for transporting bananas out of South America. While sailing to

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

, the vessel was caught in a storm, suffered a broken

, and was laid up in Tampa for repair. At that time, Eugene Kinney, McDonald's nephew and Zenith Corporation vice president who had grown up on ''Mizpah'' and served as a naval officer in the South Pacific during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, learned of her plight and purchased her. Finding ''Mizpah'' irreparably damaged, however, Kinney scuttled her off the coast of Palm Beach, Florida, on 9 April 1968, along with another ship, , to serve as an

artificial Artificiality (the state of being artificial or manmade) is the state of being the product of intentional human manufacture, rather than occurring naturally through processes not involving or requiring human activity. Connotations Artificiality ...

reef to prevent

beach erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landward ...

. Sitting in of water with her hatches left ajar, ''Mizpah'' is now one of the chief attractions of an offshore scuba diving area known as "The Mizpah Corridor".

Citations

Sources

External links

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Navsource, USS ''Mizpah''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mizpah (PY-29) Patrol vessels of the United States Navy Wreck diving sites Underwater diving sites in the United States