USS Sea Cloud, a 2323-ton weather patrol vessel, was built at Kiel, Germany, in 1931 as the civilian yacht Hussar. Renamed Sea Cloud in about 1935, she was chartered by the Navy in 1942 and converted for use in gathering weather data in the Atlantic. Originally commissioned as a Coast Guard Cutter, she had a racially integrated crew. Her Coast Guard crew remained with Sea Cloud when she was transferred to the Navy in April 1943 and reclassified as IX-99. Decommissioned in November 1944 and returned to her owner, she had a long Post-war career as a yacht and as a cruise ship.

This page features views of Sea Cloud as a Coast Guard and as a Navy ship during World War II.

Click photograph for a larger image.

Photo #: NH 92944 USCGC Sea Cloud (WPG-284) Photographed by the U.S. Coast Guard, circa 1942. This ship later transferred to the Navy, as USS Sea Cloud (IX-99), but retained her Coast Guard crew. U.S. NHHC Photograph. Online Image: 41KB; 740 x 585
Photo #: NH 92945 USS Sea Cloud (IX-99) At Argentia, Newfoundland, in July 1944, while serving with a Coast Guard crew on weather reporting duties. A net tender (AN) is at left, with a light-painted submarine chaser (PCE) just forward of Sea Cloud. USS Pontiac (AF-20) is at the extreme right. U.S. NHHC Photograph. Online Image: 65KB; 740 x 605

For higher resolution images see: Obtaining Photographic Reproductions