USS Sunbeam III during World War I. Her 1-pounder gun is visible on her foredeck.
History
United States
NameUSS Sunbeam III
NamesakePrevious name retained
BuilderCharles L. Seabury Company and Gas Engine and Power Company, Morris Heights, the Bronx, New York
Completed1917
Acquired16 June 1917
Commissioned18 July 1917
Stricken21 January 1919
FateReturned to owner
NotesOperated as civilian motorboat Sunbeam III 1917 and from 1919
General characteristics
TypePatrol vessel
Length52 ft (16 m)
Beam11 ft 4 in (3.45 m)
Draft3 ft (0.91 m) mean
Speed14 miles per hour[1]
Complement8
Armament

USS Sunbeam III (SP-251) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919. The prefix designator means Section Patrol Craft.[2]

Sunbeam III was built as a civilian motorboat of the same name in 1917 by the Charles L. Seabury Company and the Gas Engine and Power Company at Morris Heights in the Bronx, New York. Her owner, Mr. R. B. Roosevelt of New York City, loaned her to the U.S. Navy under a free lease agreement for World War I service as a patrol vessel. She was delivered to the Navy on 16 June 1917 and commissioned as USS Sunbeam III (SP-251) on 18 July 1917.

Sunbeam III was assigned to section patrol duty to protect antisubmarine nets in the New York Harbor area for the remainder of World War I.

Sunbeam III was stricken from the Navy List on 21 January 1919 and returned to Roosevelt.

This craft is not the same Sunbeam which was sold to a new owner in 1923, and through navigation error, found itself stranded in the Niagara River.[3][4] There are stark visual differences in the configuration of the wheelhouse, stack, and general size of the boat compared to photos from Niagara Falls Public Library. In addition, the Sunbeam stranded above Horseshoe falls was 80 feet long, whereas this vessel was only 52 feet in length.[5]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Both the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/s20/sunbeam_iii.htm) and NavSource Online (at http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/170251.htm) give Sunbeam III's speed in "miles per hour", implying statute miles per hour, which is very unusual for a watercraft. It may be that both sources mean her speed was 14 knots; if they really do mean that her speed was 14 statute miles per hour, the equivalent in knots would be 12.2.
  2. ↑ "Sunbeam III (SP 251)". www.navsource.org. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  3. ↑ "Niagara Falls - The Scow and the Subchaser: a History". www.niagarafrontier.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  4. ↑ "USS Sunbeam III". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  5. ↑ "SUBMARINE CHASER HELD IN CLUTCHES OF NIAGARA". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-12-22.

References

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