USS ''Volador'' (IX-59) was a wooden-hulled
schooner
A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoon ...
acquired by the
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 ...
in 1942 and after transfer to the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
seeing service in the
Southwest Pacific Area
South West Pacific Area (SWPA) was the name given to the Allied supreme military command in the South West Pacific Theatre of World War II. It was one of four major Allied commands in the Pacific War. SWPA included the Philippines, Borneo, the D ...
during World War II as an early command and communications ship. The schooner was designed by William Gardiner and built at
Wilmington, California
Wilmington is a neighborhood in the Harbor region of Los Angeles, California, covering .
Featuring a heavy concentration of industry and the third-largest oil field in the continental United States, this neighborhood has a high percentage of Lat ...
by William Müller and Company in 1926. The yacht was owned by W. L. Valentine, a California yachtsman and Commodore of the California Yacht Club in 1931.
Yacht ''Volador''
The yacht was designed by William Gardiner and built in 1926 for W. L. Valentine, California yachtsman and Commodore of the California Yacht Club, by William Müller and Company in 1926.
Registry information for the yacht in 1933 shows ''Volador'' with Official Number 225571, signal letters KGAV, changed from MGCF in the 1930 register, ,
registered length of ,
breadth and a depth of , 120 horsepower diesel engine, a crew of nine and home port of Los Angeles.
In June 1927 the yacht sailed to Alaska with Valentine, his wife and three sons with a crew of ten for fishing in Alaska and British Columbia returning with a stop in Victoria, British Columbia in August. Valentine stated he planned to repeat the trip the next year.
War service
The Navy acquired ''Volador'' from W. L. Valentine on 2 February 1942 and placed the vessel in service on 19 February 1942 as a miscellaneous auxiliary vessel designated as IX-59 with the Port Director,
San Pedro, California
San Pedro ( ; Spanish: " St. Peter") is a neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles, California. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los Angeles in 1909. The Port of Los Angeles, a major international seaport, is partially located wi ...
. The vessel operated locally within the
11th Naval District until July 1943 when she was temporarily transferred to the
Coast Guard
A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...
for operational training of Coast Guard district personnel. On 17 August 1943, ''Volador'' was delivered to the
War Shipping Administration
The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a World War II emergency war agency of the US government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for fighting the war. Both shipbuilding under the Maritime Co ...
and struck from the
Navy List
A Navy Directory, formerly the Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval autho ...
on 3 September 1943.
[
The War Shipping Administration transferred the schooner to the ]War Department War Department may refer to:
* War Department (United Kingdom)
* United States Department of War (1789–1947)
See also
* War Office, a former department of the British Government
* Ministry of defence
* Ministry of War
* Ministry of Defence
* Dep ...
for operation by the US Army as a communications ship in the Southwest Pacific Area
South West Pacific Area (SWPA) was the name given to the Allied supreme military command in the South West Pacific Theatre of World War II. It was one of four major Allied commands in the Pacific War. SWPA included the Philippines, Borneo, the D ...
(SWPA). ''Volador'' was a part of th
"CP fleet"
a flotilla of small vessels equipped with radio and Signal Corps personnel first acting as relays from forward areas that expanded into full forward command post communications facilities. ''Volador'' participated in the Papua-New Guinea campaign along with the Australian acquired vessels ''Harold'' and ''Argosy Lemal'' and ''Geoanna
''Geoanna'' was a steel auxiliary schooner built in 1934 by Craig Shipbuilding Company in Long Beach, California. ''Geoanna'' was requisitioned during World War II for service briefly with the U.S. Navy before transfer to the U.S. Army for South ...
'', another US vessel sent to SWPA and used as a communications ship.[)][)] In addition to standard CP fleet duties ''Volador'' became a radio repair ship "to supply floating maintenance wherever most required."
Post war
''Volador'' departed Manila on 28 January 1950 for Hong Kong with owner George B. Ross, his eleven year old son and a crew of eleven. The U.S. 13th air force searched for the overdue yacht in February, unsuccessfully, as the yacht had put into Kwangchow-wan (Guangzhouwan
The Leased Territory of Guangzhouwan, officially the , was a territory on the coast of Zhanjiang in China leased to France and administered by French Indochina. The capital of the territory was Fort-Bayard, present-day Zhanjiang.
The Japan ...
), also noted as Fort-Bayard in reports, after weather and other problems caused Ross to head for what he thought was still territory under French concession. On arrival the yacht was boarded by heavily armed Chinese Communist and interned along with the crew accused of spying. Ross and crew, less one crew member accidentally drowned during captivity, were eventually pushed across the border into Hong Kong dirty and penniless after sixty-four days in detention. Ross chartered the tug ''Alicia Moiler'' to reclaim the yacht itself but the crew had obtained a court order in Hong Kong impounding the vessel against a claim for back pay.
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Volador (IX-59)
1926 ships
Ships built in Los Angeles
South West Pacific theatre of World War II
Unclassified miscellaneous vessels of the United States Navy
Ships of the United States Army