Choctaw II (Tug)
1898-1918
A Native American tribe, formerly of Alabama and Mississippi, now resident in Oklahoma.
II
(Tug: tonnage 152; length 91'5"; beam 21'; draft 10'; speed 10 knots; armament 1 3-pounder, 1 1-pounder)
C. G. Coyle;--built in 1892 at Philadelphia, Pa., by Neafie & Levy-- was purchased on 19 April 1898; renamed Choctaw, and commissioned the same day, Lt. (j.g.) William O. Hulme in command.
Attached to the Auxiliary Naval Force for patrol duty in the Spanish-American War, Choctaw arrived at Pensacola, Fla., on 11 June 1898. She operated in the Gulf of Mexico until she was placed out of commission at Pensacola Navy Yard on 26 August 1898, shortly after the end of hostilities with Spain.
Recommissioned on 15 June 1899 she sailed for Portsmouth, N.H., with the apprentice training ship Monongahela in tow, then was stationed at Newport, R.I., as a harbor tug. While undergoing repairs at Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Va., she was placed out of commission on 15 July 1902. Upon her recommissioning in 1904 she was assigned to the Washington Navy Yard for duty as a yard craft. She was renamed Wicomico 20 February 1918.
Redsignated as a harbor tug, YT-26, on 17 July 1920, Wicomico was transferred to the Norfolk Navy Yard on 21 April 1921. She operated thence until sunk in a collision with the destroyer Goff (DD-247) in Hampton Roads on 15 February 1940. She was stricken from the Navy List on 27 February 1940, and sold for salvage and scrapping on 10 August 1940.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
2 September 2021
