Naval History and Heritage Command

Vencedor (S. P. 699), a wooden-hulled motorboat completed in 1909 at Neponset, Mass., by George Lawley and Sons, and originally named Tekla, was acquired by the Navy on a free lease basis from H. H. Lueding hams on 19 June 1917; and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 30 August 1917, Ens. David Crow, USNRF, in command.

Operating out of Section Base No. 6, 3d Naval District, Vencedor performed harbor patrol duties into the summer of 1918 when she began carrying dispatches and towing targets. After continuing this duty through the armistice, Vencedor was decommissioned at City Island, N.Y., on 26 February 1919 and returned to her owner.