Niji (S.P. 33)
1917-1919
The Navy retained the name carried by this small craft at the time of her acquisition.
(S.P. 33: length 56’2” (overall), 55’2” (between perpendiculars); beam 9’6”; draft 4’0” (mean); speed 14.0 knots (cruising). 21.0 knots (maximum); complement 10; armament 2 1-pounders)
Wilfreda, a single-screw, wooden-hull motor boat built in 1914 at Essington, Pa., by Essington Ship Building Co., had been renamed at some prior to her acquisition by the Navy as Niji, under free lease from R.B. McEwan, Jr., of New York City on 21 June 1917 and placed in commission on 29 June 1917.
Operating in the Second Naval District, headquartered at Newport, R.I., during the Great War [World War I], Niji served on net patrol throughout the war. Decommissioned and stricken from the Navy Register on 25 November 1918, a fortnight after the Armistice, she was returned to her owner on 26 November 1918.
Updated and corrected, Robert J. Cressman
10 January 2024
