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Wicomico (Tug)

1918–1940

A Native American tribe, some of whose members lived in Virginia’s Tidewater region.

(Tug: length 100'9"(overall); breadth 21'0"; draft 9'5"; speed 10 knots; armament 1 1-pounder)

The iron hull single screw tug C. G. Coyle built at Philadelphia, Pa., by Neafie & Levy, was completed in 1892. Acquired by the Navy from W. G. Coyle for service during the Spanish-American War, the tug was renamed Choctaw and commissioned on 19 April 1898, Lt. (j.g.) Walter O. Hulme in command.

Attached to the Auxiliary Naval Force for patrol duty during the war with Spain, Choctaw operated in the Gulf of Mexico through the cessation of hostilities. On 26 August 1898, she was decommissioned at the Pensacola [Fla.] Navy Yard.

Recommissioned on 15 June 1899, Choctaw sailed for Portsmouth, N.H., with the apprentice training ship Monongahela in tow, before reporting to the Naval Training Station, Newport, R.I., for duty as a yard tug and local ferry. Subsequently detached and sent to the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Va., for repairs, the ship was again placed out of commission on 15 July 1902.

Placed back in active service in 1904, Choctaw then served at the Washington [D.C.] Navy Yard, and was renamed Wicomico on 20 February 1918. A little over three months later, the tug served as the platform for a wreath-laying ceremony on the Potomac River sponsored by representatives of the Daughters of the American Revolution on Memorial Day [30 May]. Originally, the ceremonies had honored those who had perished in the sinking of the British passenger steamship Lusitania by the German submarine U-20 (Kapitänleutnant Walther Schweiger, commanding) on 7 May 1915, but within three years had been expanded to serve as a remembrance of those who had fallen in battle on land and on the sea. Wicomico, Lt. (j.g.) Frederick Keil, tugmaster, proceeded from the Navy Yard and at the appropriate moment “a bevy of American girls” released floral tribute wreaths into the Potomac.


Those involved in the ceremonies honoring the dead of the Great War gather on Wicomico’s forecastle at the Washington Navy Yard, 30 May 1918, in this image captured by Lt. E. M. de Barri. Those present include Mrs. Mary Lockwood (Honorary Chaplai...
Caption: Those involved in the ceremonies honoring the dead of the Great War gather on Wicomico’s forecastle at the Washington Navy Yard, 30 May 1918, in this image captured by Lt. E. M. de Barri. Those present include Mrs. Mary Lockwood (Honorary Chaplain General of the Daughters of the American Revolution), Miss Rita Jolivet de Cippice (a Lusitania survivor), Mr. C. J. James, Mr. H. Gilbert of the White House (in charge of the ceremonies), the “Lusitania Girls,” and Mrs. Milton C. Kirk (wife of the former U.S. Consul at Nantes, France). Lt. (j.g.) Frederick Keil, Wicomico’s tugmaster, stands at the center of the group, and eight U.S. Marines stand at the bow. The ship’s 1-pounder gun is visible in the foreground. (U.S. Army Signal Corps Photograph 111-SC-11833 (W.W.I), National Archives and Records Administration, Still Pictures Division, College Park, Md.)

Designated as a harbor tug, YT-26, on 17 July 1920, Wicomico was transferred to the Norfolk Navy Yard on 21 April 1921. She served in the Fifth Naval District through the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, and into the following year.

On 15 February 1940, Wicomico collided with the destroyer Goff (DD-247) in Hampton Roads and sank shortly thereafter. Fortunately, there were no casualties in the mishap.

Placed on the list to be disposed-of, on 27 February 1940, the vessel was salvaged and sold for scrap. She was stricken from the list of Naval Vessels on 1 August 1940.

Updated, Robert J. Cressman

11 February 2022

Published: Sun Feb 13 00:18:52 EST 2022