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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

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  • World War I 1917-1918
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Vester (S.P. 686)

1917-1919

The Navy retained the name carried by this vessel at the time of her acquisition.

(S.P. 686: tonnage 117 (gross register); length 96'4"; beam 18'4"; dr. 5'9" (mean) ; speed 7.6 knots; complement 24; armament. 2 1-pounders)

Vester, a wooden-hulled freight boat completed in 1876 at Boothbay, Maine, was acquired by the Navy from the Delaware Fish Oil Co. on 24 May 1917; given the identification number S.P. 686; and commissioned on 2 June 1917, Ens. James T. H. Anderson, USNRF, in command.

Assigned to the Fourth Naval District, Vester operated on patrol duties until 21 October 1917, when she was transferred to the district minesweeping squadron. Based then at the Section Base at Lewes, Del., the ship appears to have spent most of her active duty alongside a pier with her engines out of commission. After 11 September 1918, she was shifted to routine patrol duties when her antiquated single-expansion power plant would permit.

She remained thus engaged until decommissioned at Cape May, N.J., on 15 May 1919. Vester was sold on 15 January 1920 to Hayes & Anderton, of New York City.

Updated, Robert J. Cressman

22 June 2022

Published: Wed Jun 22 11:23:47 EDT 2022