1941-1946
A clear purple or bluish-violet variety of quartz, considered by jewelers a semiprecious gem.
(PYc-3: tonnage 350; length 146'9"; beam 23'6"; depth of hold 12'11"; draft 11'; speed 14 knots; complement 46; armament 1 3-inch, 2 depth charge tracks)
Amethyst (PYc-3), formerly named Samona II, was a yacht built in 1931 by Craig Shipbuilding Co., Long Beach, Calif.; purchased by the Navy on 4 November 1940 from the estate of Willitts J. Hole, a prominent financier of Los Angeles, Calif.; converted for naval service by Craig Shipbuilding Co.; and commissioned on 27 February 1941, Lt. Herman Reich, DE-V(G), USNR, in command.
The ship was assigned to the Inshore Patrol, Eleventh Naval District, and helped to patrol the entrance to Los Angeles harbor. After the U.S. entered World War II, the converted yacht expanded her role to include escorting vessels and convoys as well as carrying local passenger traffic.
On 1 April 1943, Amethyst was attached to the Surface Task Group, Southern Section, San Pedro, Calif., and continued her patrol duties off the southern California coast through January 1944. She was decommissioned on 2 February 1944.
Placed back in commission on 19 April 1944 and manned by a U.S. Coast Guard crew, Amethyst reported to the Western Sea Frontier section base at Treasure Island, Calif. Through the end of 1945, the ship maintained a plane guard station, collected weather data, and carried out antisubmarine and antiaircraft coastal patrols.
Amethyst was finally decommissioned at San Diego, Calif., on 27 February 1946. Her name was stricken from the Naval Register on 12 March 1946. She was transferred on 11 September to the Maritime Commission for disposal.
She was subsequently sold to Samuel K. Rindge of Los Angeles and resumed her original name Samona II and served as a yacht. Purchased in the early 1950's by David P. Hamilton of Shreveport, La., she served him under the name Pudlo until sold in 1962 to Clarene Y. Martin of Houston, Tex., and renamed Explorer.
