Source : 2019-navysource-org-archives-12-1305.pdf /

Patrol Yacht:

• The third Sylph was built in 1890 by John Roach and Co., Chester, PA
• Acquired by the Navy in June 1898
• Commissioned USS Sylph 18 August 1898 at the Norfolk Navy Yard for use as a Presidential Yacht
• Designated a Patrol Yacht, PY-5, 17 July 1921
• Decommissioned 27 April 1929 at the Norfolk Navy Yard
• Struck from the Navy list 29 April 1929
• Sold 26 November 1929 to Mr. Frank B. Clair of Brooklyn, NY (Mr. Clair was reportedly an ex-bootlegger). Mr. Clair and his partner Captain John Nugent converted her into a party fishing boat and

operated her from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, NY. The Sylph fished from Sheepshead Bay until April 1939, when she changed her business and ran a ferry service from Sea Gate, Brooklyn to the Battery in Manhattan. In 1941, her owners defaulted on the mortgage held by the Worthington Diesel Company and they took possession of the vessel

• Fate unknown.

Specifications:

• Displacement 152 t.
• Length 123' 8"
• Beam 20'
• Draft 7' 6"
• Speed 15 kts.
• Complement 31

1921 - 35

• Armament: 1905 - One 6-pounder

1914 - None

• Propulsion: Two Almy boilers, one 550ihp vertical triple-expansion steam engine, one shaft

1935 - Replaced by a 400hp Worthington diesel engine.

Source : 2019-navysource-org-archives-12-1305.pdf /

Commanding Officers

• [01] LT William John Maxwell, USN ( 22 October 1894 - 1898 )
• [02] LT William Henry Buck, USN ( 1 December 1898 )
• [03] LT William John Maxwell, USN ( 16 September 1899 )
• [04] LT William Kern Gise (born 1871) , USN ( 30 January 1900 )
• [05] LT Charles Francis Preston, USN ( 28 June 1902 )
• [06] LT Franck Taylor Evans, USN ( 1905 )
• [07] LT Roscoe Carlyle Bulmer, USN ( 2 June 1906 - 16 May 1908 )
• [08] LT Roger Williams, USN ( 1908 )
• [09] CDR Charles Russell Train, USN - Retired as Rear Admiral ( 27 December 1909 - 1911 )
• [10] LT Christopher Raymond Perry Rodgers, USN ( 1911 )
• [11] LT Harrison Edward Knauss, USN ( 1915 )
• [12] LT Joel William Bunkley, USN - USNA Class of 1909 Retired as Rear Admiral ( 1 June 1916 )
• [13] LTJG(T) Robert Martin, USN( 1918 - 1919 )
• [14] LT Haiden Trigg Dickinson, USN ( 25 November 1919 - 1 June 1920 )
• [15] LCDR Guy Evans Baker, USN ( 1 June 1920 )
• [16] LCDR Louis Peter Wenzell, USN - Retired as Rear Admiral ( 19 February 1923 - 22 August 1925 )
• [17] LCDR Francis Eliot Maynard Whiting, USN - Retired as Vice Admiral ( 22 August 1925 - 9 February 1927 )
• [18] LT Charles Butler McVay, III, USN - USNA Class of 1920 , Awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart - Retired as Rear Admiral ( 9 February 1927 - April 1928 )