Tommy Traddles was a wooden-hulled cabin motor launch built in 1906 at Morris Heights, N.Y., by Ralph E. Monroe, and originally owned by V. B. Hubbell; later acquired and used by D. R. Hoornbeeck. Purchased in 1915 by Dr. J. B. Leffingwell of Bradenton, Fla., the pleasure craft was under private ownership until World War I.
After the United States entered the war in the spring of 1917, the Navy conducted a widespread search for suitable patrol craft to guard the nation's shorelines against possible infiltrators. Accordingly, Tommy Traddles was purchased by the Navy on 25 June 1917 for use as a section patrol boat. After being delivered to the Navy on 4 August, the motor launch was deemed unsuitable for this duty and returned to her owner on 4 September 1917.
