Galatea II (S. P. 714)
1917-1921
The first and second ships named Galatea each retained the name carried at the time of their acquisition.
(S. P. 714: tonnage 367 (gross); length 192'; beam 24'; draft 9'; speed 14.0 knots (maximum); complement 57; armament 3 3-inch, 2 machine guns)
II
The second Galatea -- a steel-hulled steam yacht built in 1914 at Wilmington, Del., by Pusey & Jones -- was purchased by the Navy on 14 July 1917 at Detroit, Mich., from B. L. Ford, Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., and earmarked for "distant service." Assigned the identification number S. P. 714; Galatea was commissioned at Detroit on 25 August 1917, Lt. Comdr. O. T. McClurg, USNRF, in command.
Galatea departed Detroit that same day [25 August 1917] and set course for the Boston Navy Yard where she was decommissioned on 26 September to undergo conversion to an armed patrol vessel. Recommissioned on 16 November 1917, with Lt. H. D. Hinckley, USCG, in command, Galatea proceeded to Philadelphia, and proceeded thence for the Azores on 15 December 1917 with French Submarine Chaser 314 in tow.
Proceeding by way of Bermuda, Galatea arrived Ponta Delgada, Azores, on 22 January 1918, racked and strained by the towing of the 110-foot submarine chaser. Damage required repairs until May of 1919 when she began service as an interisland transport in the Azores. She carried the U.S. Consul from Ponta Delgada for official calls on the governors of Horta, Fayal and Angra, Terceira, returning to her base in time to honor Navy seaplane NC-3 on 19 May, and NC-4 on 20 May, as they arrived in Ponta Delgada on the historic first transoceanic flight.
Galatea departed Ponta Delgada on 7 June 1919 for Boston, Mass., where she was decommissioned on 15 July. The following year, she was towed to the Portsmouth Navy Yard, N.H., to serve as receiving ship for submarine crews. Ultimately, she was sold at Portsmouth on 20 December 1921 to Capt. A. A. Tanos of New York City.
