Edithia (S.P. 214)
1917–1933
The Navy retained the name carried by this vessel at the time she was acquired.
(S.P. 214: tonnage 66; length 98'8"; beam 14'0"; draft 4'6"; speed 14.0 knots (cruising); complement 22; armament 2 3-pounders, 2 machine guns)
The wooden-hull, twin screw motor yacht Alfredine IV was built at Morris Heights, N.Y., in 1909 by the Gas Engine & Power Co. and Charles L. Seabury Co. for Ralph E. Slaven of New York. Subsequently purchased by John H. Hanan of New York and renamed Edithia, the yacht was purchased by the Navy in May 1917. Assigned the identification number S.P. 214, she was commissioned on 23 August 1917, Ens. Madison S. Pearson, USNRF, in command.
Assigned to the Third Naval District, Edithia patrolled the waters of Long Island Sound, and guarded the submarine nets in New York Harbor for the duration of the Great War [World War I]. Retained after the end of hostilities, being classified as a district patrol vessel (YP) and given the identification number YP-214 on 17 July 1920, she remained in the Third Naval District, carrying out various local operations.
Decommissioned at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y., on 13 December 1921, Edithia was lent to the State of New Jersey in July 1922 to be operated by that state’s Board of Commerce and Navigation. Returned to the Navy in 1932, she was stricken from the Navy List on 19 July 1933 and sold on 3 October 1933.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
18 February 2022
