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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

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  • Boats-Ships--Support Ships
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  • Ship History
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Mizpah
(PY‑29: dp. 607; l. 174'; b. 27'1"; dr. 10'; s. 14 k.; cpl. 62; a. 2 3", 3 .50 mg., 2 dct., 2 dcp.)

Former name retained.

Mizpah (PY‑29) was built as yacht Savarona in 1926 by Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Newport News, Va., for James Elverson; bought in 1929 by Mr. Eugene F. McDonald, Jr., and renamed Mizpah; acquired by the Navy 16 March 1942; converted at Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding Co., Sturgeon Bay, Wis.; and commissioned 26 October 1942, Lt. S. M. Etnier, USNR, in command.

Mizpah left Sturgeon Bay 16 November 1942 for convoy escort duty along the east coast, sailing between New York and Key West until July 1944. Doughty converted yachts, many of them no longer young, thus made an essential contribution to Allied victory by freeing larger, more heavily armed, escorts to protect vital transatlantic shipping.

Between August 1944 and April 1945, Mizpah served as navigation schoolship from the Amphibious Training Base at Little Creek, Va., training prospective captains and executive officers of new amphibious construction in the Chesapeake Bay area.

Converted at Boston for duty as flagship, Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet, Mizpah broke the flag of Rear Adm. O. M. Read at Portland, Maine, 28 May 1945. He was succeeded by Rear Adm. Frank E. Beatty, whose flag Mizpah flew from 4 September. She arrived in Charleston, S.C., 16 December, decommissioned 15 January 1946, and was transferred to WSA 25 September 1946 for disposal.