Topaz (PYc-10)
1941-1944
A red, yellow, or pink transparent mineral used as a semi-precious gem. The name is also used in conjunction with yellow sapphires and yellow quartz.
(PYc-10: displacement 160; length 111'8"; beam 18'11"; draft 7'½" (mean); speed 13.0 knots; complement 29; armament 1 3-inch/23, 2 .50-caliber machine guns, 4 rifles, 2 depth charge release gears, Type "B")
Doromar, a twin-screw yacht built in 1931 at Stamford, Conn., by the Luders Marine Construction Co., was acquired by the Navy on 14 February 1941 from Mr. W. McCullough; renamed Topaz and designated PYc-10 on 3 March 1941; converted to a patrol vessel, coastal yacht, by Robert Jacob, Inc., City Island, N.Y.; and placed in commission at New York on 14 July 1941, Lt. (j.g.) Sidney R. Jackson, D-V(S), USNR, in command.
Topaz cleared New York on 21 July 1941 and headed south. She stopped at Norfolk, Va., from 25 July to 5 August and then continued on to Charleston, S.C., where she arrived on the 7th. Three days later, she steamed on to Miami, whence she departed on the 15th. After a two-day visit to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the coastal yacht headed for Cristobal in the Canal Zone. She arrived in the Canal Zone on 22 July 1941 and reported for duty to the Commandant, Fifteenth Naval District.
For the next three years, Topaz patrolled the close approaches to the Panama Canal and the coastlines of the Canal Zone. On 12 August 1944, she departed the Fifteenth Naval District and the Canal Zone. After stopping at Guantanamo Bay and Charleston, she reached Philadelphia, Pa., on 31 August 1944. She was placed out of commission there on 27 September and was turned over to the War Shipping Administration for disposal. Her name was struck from the Navy Register on 14 October 1944.
Sold to Honduran interests, the vessel was utilized for cargo-carrying, until she caught fire on 12 August 1953 and sank while transporting machinery from Miami, Florida, to Colon, Panama.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
6 July 2022
