Underwriter II (Id.No. 1390)
1918-1920
The Navy retained the name carried by this vessel at the time of her acquisition.
II
(Id.No. 1390): tonnage 170; length 121'0"; beam 22'0"; draft 9'3" (mean); speed 13 knots; complement 22)
The second Underwriter, an iron-hulled screw tug built in 1880-1881 at Camden, N.J., by John H. Dialogue and rebuilt in 1903, was taken over by the Navy at New Orleans, La., from the Pilot's Association of New Orleans on 1 July 1918 and assigned the identification number (Id.No.) 1390. Commissioned on 9 August 1918, Boatswain Joseph W. Elfert, USNRF, in command, Underwriter was formally purchased by the Navy on 1 September 1918.
The ship operated on minesweeping duties off the mouth of the Mississippi River for the duration of the Great War [World War I]. Retained for service after the Armistice, Underwriter was used on salvage duties and in training Naval Reserve seamen in minesweeping through 1919.
Underwriter was classified as a harbor tug YT-44 on 17 July 1920 and was renamed Adirondack on 15 October 1920. The ship remained in the Eighth Naval District on local harbor tug operations and towed vessels between New Orleans and Pensacola, Fla., through 1921. Adirondack was decommissioned on 1 March 1922 and was sold to B. Mitchell of New Orleans on 6 June of the same year.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
23 January 2022
