Velero III

History
NameVelero III
OwnerGeorge Allan Hancock[1]
Port of registryLos Angeles, California[2]
BuilderCraig Shipbuilding
Laid downJune 16, 1930[1]
LaunchedApril 2, 1931[1]
IdentificationU.S. Official number: 230891[3]
FateSold and operated under Kuwaiti flag in 1949[3]
General characteristics
Length
  • 193 feet (58.8 m) length overall
  • 190 feet (57.9 m) length waterline[1]
Beam30 feet (9.1 m)[1]
Draft11 feet 9 inches (3.6 m) mean[1]
Crew18[4]

Velero III was a motor vessel built for George Allan Hancock at Craig Shipbuilding, Long Beach, California, with the intention of using the vessel for both business and research. Hancock was a donor to the University of Southern California with Velero III eventually becoming R/V Velero III in research associated with the university and a sculpture of the vessel appears on the Hancock Institute for Marine Studies at U.S.C. The ship was purchased for war use by the Navy on December 15, 1941 and being commissioned as the USS Chalcedony designated PYC-16 on weather duty for the Hawaiian Sea Frontier.

In 1947 the vessel was being operated as the yacht Velero III for Nicholas A. Kessler and in 1948 was registered to Independent Tankships as the yacht Ahmady with the home port of Wilmington, Delaware. In 1949 the vessel was being operated under the Kuwaiti flag.

  1. ^ a b c d e f Pacific Marine Review August, 1931, p. 346.
  2. ^ Meredith 1939, p. 49.
  3. ^ a b Williams 2013, p. 110.
  4. ^ General account of the scientific work of the Velero III, p. 43 (53 in linked view).