Caprice (S.P. 703)
1917-1919
The Navy retained the name carried by this small craft at the time of her acquisition.
(S.P. 703: tonnage 10 (gross register); length 45'10" (overall); draft 4'2" (mean); speed 9.0 knots (maximum), 8.2 knots (cruising); complement 9; armament 1 1-pounder, 1 machine gun)
Caprice, a single-screw, wooden-hulled motor boat built in 1914 at Bayonne, N.J., by the Elco Company, was free leased to the Navy by her owner, W. Sloane, and delivered on 8 May 1917. Assigned the identification number S.P. 703, Caprice was commissioned on 24 August 1917, Ens. C. H. Burnett, USNRF, in command.
Assigned to the Fifth Naval District, Caprice performed inshore patrol duty in that area during the Great War [World War I]. She was placed out of commission on 24 January 1919 and returned to her owner.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
8 December 2023
