HMCS ''Wolf'' was an

armed yacht An armed yacht was a yacht that was armed with weapons and was typically in the service of a navy. The word "yacht" ("hunter"; Dutch "jacht"; German "jagd", literally meaning "to hunt") was originally applied to small, fast and agile naval vessels ...

of the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...

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 opposing ...

that saw service on the British Columbia Coast of Canada. Constructed in 1915 as the

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

''Wenowah'', with the US entry into

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the vessel was taken into

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 ...

service as USS ''Wenonah'' (SP-165) as a patrol ship. The vessel escorted

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

s between the United States and Europe and between

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

and Bizerte, Tunis and

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

, Italy. After the war, ''Wenonah'' was loaned to the United States

Coast and Geodetic Survey The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (abbreviated USC&GS), known from 1807 to 1836 as the Survey of the Coast and from 1836 until 1878 as the United States Coast Survey, was the first scientific agency of the United States Government. It ...

for three and a half years before being sold to private interests in 1928. In private ownership, the vessel was renamed at least twice, including ''Stranger'' and ''Blue Water''. With the onset of World War II, the Royal Canadian Navy sought vessels capable of patrol duties. However, a lack of Canadian ships led them to acquiring vessels from their southern neighbour. ''Blue Water'' was acquired in 1940 for service on the British Columbia coast and used a patrol vessel. Following the war, the ship was sold again to commercial ownership and renamed ''Gulfstream''. ''Gulfstream'' was wrecked off

Powell River, British Columbia Powell River is a city on the northern Sunshine Coast of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Most of its population lives near the eastern shores of Malaspina Strait, which is part of the larger Georgia Strait between Vancouver Island and the ...

on 11 October 1947.

Description

''Wenonah'' measured ,

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...

and

between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the ster ...

with a beam of and a draught of . The ship was propelled by one shaft powered by a vertical triple expansion steam engine giving the ship a maximum speed of . In

service the ship had a complement of 65 personnel and was armed with two

3"/50 caliber gun The 3"/50 caliber gun (spoken "three-inch fifty-caliber") in United States naval gun terminology indicates the gun fired a projectile in diameter, and the barrel was 50 calibers long (barrel length is 3 in × 50 = ). Different guns (identif ...

s. In Canadian service, the vessel measured , long with a beam of and a draught of . The ship had a maximum speed of and was armed with one

QF 12-pounder 12 cwt naval gun The QF 12-pounder 12-cwt gun (abbreviated as Q.F. 12-pdr. (12-cwt.)Gun ...

and one 2-pounder gun. ''Wolf'' had a complement of 5 officers and 38 ratings.

Service history

As ''Wenonah''

''Wenonah'' was a yacht constructed in 1915 by

George Lawley & Sons George Lawley & Son was a shipbuilding firm operating in Massachusetts from 1866 to 1945. It began in Scituate, Massachusetts, Scituate, then moved to Boston. After founder George Lawley (1823–1915) retired in 1890, his son, grandson and great-g ...

at their yard in Neponset, Massachusetts. With the US entry into

, the

(USN) sought out ships to augment its patrol service and acquired ''Wenonah'' from Walter G. Ladd. ''Wenonah'' was taken up as a patrol ship by the USN on 8 June 1917 and given the hull identification number SP-165. The vessel was commissioned on 22 October. ''Wenonah'' departed

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...

with five other patrol ships and a tender, towing submarine chasers to

via

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

and the Azores. The

arrived on 25 December and beginning on 15 January 1918 ''Wenonah'' was used to escort convoys between Gibraltar and Bizerte, Tunisia. In July, ''Wenonah'' escorted a convoy to

, Italy. During this mission, one of the vessels she was escorting, was

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

ed on 23 July. ''Wenonah'' recovered the survivors after dropping one depth charge on a suspected contact. The following day, 24 July, was torpedoed. Once again ''Wenonah'' dropped a depth charge, but this time it failed to detonate and the patrol ship turned to rescue work, recovering 38 of ''Rutherglen''s crew. During the rest of the convoy's voyage ''Wenonah'' dropped several more depth charges and fired a 3-inch shell at suspected contacts, but no further engagement with the enemy was had before the end of the journey. ''Wenonah'' returned to Gibraltar–Bizerte convoys until the end of the war in November. ''Wenowah'' returned to the US in December 1918 and remained in naval service until 12 April 1919. The vessel was then transferred to the Department of Commerce's

and given the hull number PY-11. ''Wenonah'' spent three and a half years with the unit before transferring back to the USN in October 1922, joining the 13th Naval District on the West Coast and reclassified as a converted yacht. ''Wenonah'' remained in USN service from November 1922 to June 1928 when the yacht was stricken 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 ...

. The vessel was sold on 15 May 1929 to H. W. Goodall of

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Co ...

for $7,000 and renamed ''Stranger''. Goodall sold ''Stranger'' to Mrs. Marian Huntington of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

during the Great Depression.

As ''Wolf''

To augment the local sea defences of coastal ports, the

(RCN) sought large, steel-hulled yachts to requisition. However, a significant lack of capable vessels were owned by Canadians. Canada turned to its southern neighbour for suitable ships, finding several that met the navy's requirements. However, US neutrality laws prevented their sale to belligerents in the war. In order to circumvent these laws, the RCN requisitioned the yachts of prominent Canadian yachtsmen and then sent them to the US to purchase the yachts that had been identified by the navy without the US government knowing they were working for the navy. The money to acquire the vessels was provided by the Canadian government through bank loans. While acquiring the yacht ''Breezin Thru'' for Clarence Wallace, Irving Keenleyside, an executive with the

Burrard Dry Dock Burrard Dry Dock Ltd. was a Canadian shipbuilding company headquartered in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Together with the neighbouring North Van Ship Repair yard and the Yarrows Ltd. yard in Esquimalt, which were eventually absorbed, Bu ...

Company, spotted another yacht that fit the RCN's requirements. The yacht, ''Blue Water'', was deemed acceptable after an investigation and Keenleyside sought the government's permission to purchase the vessel. He gave the name of his partner, E. A. Riddell, who was unaware of the program at the time of the call. The RCN then requisitioned Riddell's yacht upon approval in order to keep the real source of the funds secret. Conversion to an armed yacht involved removing most of the luxurious finery and installing naval hardware. The ship was armed with a 12-pounder gun, depth charges and machine guns. The ship was later given a 1-inch anti-aircraft gun for training purposes. The ship was commissioned into the RCN on 2 October 1940. ''Wolf'' was used to patrol the

Strait of Juan de Fuca The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre ...

and the mouth of the Fraser River after entering service. The ship remained with the Esquimalt Force for the entire war, though as the war progressed, ''Wolf'' was used for training and then after September 1943, as an

examination vessel An examination vessel is a vessel used to inspect ships and boats entering a port during wartime. An examination vessel would typically be responsible for examining and verifying all merchant ships and small craft entering or departing a port. T ...

. The yacht was

paid off Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship in ...

on 16 May 1945 and by August the ship was laid up for sale. The ship was purchased by Gulf Lines as a coastal ferry in 1946. Renamed ''Gulfstream'' the ferry was wrecked off

on 11 October 1947.

Notes

Citations

References

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External links

*
NavSource Online: USS ''Wenonah'' (PY 11) - ex-USC&GS ''Wenonah'' - ex-USS ''Wenonah'' (SP 165)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolf, HMCS Armed yachts of the Royal Canadian Navy World War I patrol vessels of the United States Ships built in Boston Steam yachts 1915 ships