Absegami (S.P. 371)
1917-1918
The Navy retained the name carried by this craft at the time of her acquisition.
(S.P. 371: tonnage 51 (gross); length 75'0" (overall); beam 16'0"; draft 3'6" (mean); speed 13 knots (maximum), 10.0 knots (cruising); armament 1 1-pounder, 1 machine gun)
Absegami , a wooden-hulled, twin-screw motor boat built in 1916 at New York City by the New York Yacht, Launch & Engine Co., was commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 30 April 1917, Ens. William G. Morse, USNRF, in command. Assigned the identification number S.P. 371, she was acquired by the Navy under free lease from her owner, Allen K. White, Atlantic City, N.J., on 2 May 1917.
Following her commissioning, Absegami was assigned to section patrol duty in the Fourth Naval District. Throughout the Great War [World War I], the boat patrolled Delaware Bay and Atlantic waters off Cape May, N.J. Absegami was decommissioned at Philadelphia on 2 December 1918 and returned to her owner four days later, on 6 December 1918.
Luann Parsons
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
26 January 2022
