USS Mayower (PY-1)

For other U.S. Navy ships of the same name, see USS the revolution which established Panamanian indepenMayower. For other U.S. Coast Guard ships of the dence and pointed toward the construction of the Panama
same name, see USCGC Mayower.
Canal. She sailed to Europe in the summer of 1904, and
in the fall carried Secretary of War William Howard Taft
on an inspection tour of the West Indies. Mayower was
USS Mayower (PY-1) (later as USCGC Mayower
decommissioned
at New York on 1 November 1904 for
(WPG-183)) was the second ship in the United States
conversion to a presidential yacht.
Navy to have that name. Mayower a luxurious steam
yacht built in 1896 by J. and G. Thompson, Clydebank,
Scotland for millionaire Ogden Goelet who died on board
the Mayower in August 1897.
3 Presidential yacht

Recommissioned on 25 July 1905, with Commander

Cameron Winslow in command, she immediately sailed
for Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York, to prepare for the
peace conference which ended the Russo-Japanese War.
President Roosevelt introduced the Russian and Japanese
delegations on board Mayower on 5 August. The ship
continued to play a prominent role in support of the negotiations which won President Roosevelt the Nobel Peace
Prize.

Spanish-American War

With the Spanish-American War requiring that the Navy

expand rapidly, she was purchased by the Navy from
Goelets estate and commissioned at the New York Navy
Yard as the USS Mayower on 24 March 1898 with
Commander M. R. S. McKensie in command.
The Mayower joined Admiral William T. Sampson's
squadron at Key West, Florida on 20 April. Two days
later, the squadron sailed to blockade Havana, Cuba. En
route, Mayower captured the Spanish schooner Santiago Apostol. She also took a number of shing boats and
coastal trading vessels. On 11 May, she boarded a large
British merchant steamer, which also carried the name
Mayower, and sent the blockade runner to the United
States under a prize crew. On the 14th, Alfonso led
two Spanish gunboats out of the harbor hoping to break
through the American blockade. Mayower 's guns engaged the Spanish warships and drove them back to shelter under the guns of Morro Castle. For the rest of the
war, Mayower guarded the ports of Santiago de Cuba
and Cienfuegos.

After duty as a dispatch boat protecting American interests in Santo Domingo in 1906, Mayower served as
presidential yacht until 1929. She was the scene of many
diplomatic and social events during these years. Many
members of the worlds royal families visited the yacht
and numerous persons of great prominence signed her
guestbook. President Wilson selected Mayower as the
setting for much of his courtship of Mrs. Edith Bolling
Galt.

One of President Hoover early acts as President was to

dispense with Mayower as an economy measure, saving upkeep costs of $300,000 per year. She was decommissioned at Philadelphia Navy Yard on 22 March 1929,
and her Filipino crew was transferred to the presidential
retreat at Rapidan Camp.[1] Placed up for auction, there
were no bidders, and the ship was recommissioned for
military use. During this overhaul at the Philadelphia
2 Caribbean
Navy Yard, an intense re broke out on 24 January 1931.
So much water was pumped into her, that she sank and
Early in 1899, the yacht steamed to New York where she
had to be raised.
decommissioned on 2 February to be tted out for special service in Puerto Rican waters. She recommissioned
on 15 June 1900, with Commodore Duncan Kennedy in
command. At San Juan, she served as headquarters for 4 In private ownership
the government of the island being formed by the rst
American Governor Charles H. Allen.
The yacht was sold on 19 October 1931 to Leo P. Coe,
In 1902, Mayower twice served as Admiral George agent for Frank P. Parish, a wealthy nancier known
Dewey's agship. In November 1903, Rear Admiral as The boy wizard of LaSalle Street" (Chicagos Wall
Joseph Coghlan ew his ag when o Panama during Street). The following year while he was having the ship
1

restored to her original luxurious splendor, by Henry J.

Gielow Inc., of New York City, Parishs fortunes turned
forcing him to sell the yacht shortly before he ed from
the country to escape from prosecution and elude irate investors. During the depression years, a number of successive owners tried to promote a wide variety of projects for
the ship, including use in the South America coastal trade,
restoration as a historic relic, use as a oating dance salon,
and even sale to the Japanese Government to be scrapped
as Japan sought still to strengthen her war machine. However, a complex web of legal diculties, a shortage of
money, and marginal business conditions frustrated these
enterprises while the ship idled in Atlantic ports from
New York to Jacksonville, Florida, awaiting an opportunity for future service.

World War II

REFERENCES

6 End of career
Decommissioned on 1 July 1946, Mayower was sold
at Baltimore to Frank M. Shaw on 8 January 1947 for
use in the Arctic as a sealer. However, while sailing for
sealing waters between Greenland and Labrador, early in
March, Mayower was damaged by re o Point Lookout and forced to return to Baltimore. Collins Distributors Inc., purchased the ship early in 1948, installed new
boilers in her at New York, and documented her as Malla
under the Panamanian ag. She was subsequently tted
out at Genoa, Italy, ostensibly for coastwise trade in the
Mediterranean. After sailing secretly from Marseilles,
she arrived at Haifa in Israel on 3 September. On board
were Jewish refugees. Most were former passengers of
the ill-fated Exodus which had been turned back from
Palestine the previous summer.
The Mayower was purchased by Israel in 1950 and renamed INS Maoz (K 24). In the Israeli Navy she served
as a patrol craft and training ship. The Maoz was decommissioned and broken up in 1955.

7 Legacy

President Taft boards Mayower on 14 October 1912

The Mayower had one of the most diverse and interesting lives of any ship in history. She served as the presidential yacht for ve United States presidents (T. Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge). She also served
as a warship, and was possibly the only US Navy ship (certainly one of the very few) to have been in active commissioned service in the Spanish-American War, World War
I and World War II. She was also one of the few ships to
have served in both the United States and Israeli navies.

8 Awards
Sampson Medal (1898)
Spanish Campaign Medal (1898)
World War I Victory Medal (1917-1919)
American Campaign Medal (1942-1946)
World War II Victory Medal (1942-1946)
Mayower in World War II conguration.

After America entered World War II, the War Shipping Administration purchased Mayower from Broadfoot Iron Works Inc., Wilmington, North Carolina, on
31 July 1942 and renamed her Butte. Transferred to the
Coast Guard on 6 September 1943, the ship was recommissioned as USS Mayower (WPE-183) on 19 October
1943. She patrolled the Atlantic coast guarding against
German U-boats and escorted coastal shipping besides
serving as a radar training ship at Norfolk and Boston.

9 References
This article incorporates text from the public domain
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The
entry can be found here.
A Tour for Docents of The Presidential Yacht
Potomac (PDF). The Potomac Association. Retrieved 2013-01-06.

[1] Wert, Hal Elliott (January 2005). Hoover, the Fishing

President: Portrait of the Private Man and His Life. Stackpole Books. pp. 185186. ISBN 0-8117-0099-2.

10

External links

Speaking of Pictures . . . These Show the Life &

Times of Famous U.S.S. MayowerLIFE Oct 11,
1943
navsource.org: USS Mayower
hazegray.org: USS Mayower
Naval Historical Center: USS Mayower

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USS Mayower (PY-1) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS%20Mayflower%20(PY-1)?oldid=661042365 Contributors: Jinian,

Quadell, Klemen Kocjancic, LtNOWIS, Malo, Scott5114, Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ), Bellhalla, TomTheHand, Coemgenus, SmackBot, William Case Morris, Hmains, TCY, Ohconfucius, Sambot, Guroadrunner, Nobunaga24, Bschoeni, Andrwsc, Wikited, Cotinis,
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