&sq=&lang=&file=File:USS_Cythera_(PY-31)_10_November_1943.jpeg) USS Cythera (PY-31) on 10 November 1943.
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Flag unknown | |
| Name | Argosy |
| Builder | Germania Werft, Kiel, Germany |
| Completed | 1931 |
| Renamed | Vita |
| Renamed | Abril |
| Fate | Sold to U.S. Navy 14 July 1942 |
 United States Navy | |
| Name | USS Cythera (PY-31) |
| Namesake | Cythera, one of the Ionian Islands |
| Acquired | 14 July 1942 |
| Commissioned | 26 October 1942 |
| Decommissioned | 3 January 1944 |
| In service | 3 January 1944 (non-commissioned) |
| Out of service | 14 March 1946 |
| Fate |
|
| Flag unknown | |
| Name | Abril |
| Owner | Tyre Shipping Company |
| Operator | Irgun Zvai Leumi |
| In service | 1946 |
| Renamed | Ben Hecht |
| Namesake | Ben Hecht (1894–1964), American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, novelist, and Zionist |
| Fate | Captured 8 March 1947 |
 Israeli Navy | |
| Name | INS Ma'oz (K 24) |
| Commissioned | September 1948 |
| Fate | Sold 1956 |
| Badge | &sq=&lang=&file=File:Isnavmaoz.jpg) |
| Flag unknown | |
| Name | Abril |
| In service | 1956 |
 Italy | |
| Name | Santa Maria del Mare |
| Fate | Sold 2008 |
| Flag unknown | |
| Name | Rossy One |
| Status | Active as private luxury yacht 2009 |
| General characteristics as U.S. Navy vessel | |
| Type | Patrol vessel |
| Displacement | 800 tons (full-load) |
| Length | 205 ft 7 in (62.66 m) |
| Beam | 30 ft (9.1 m) |
| Draft | 10 ft 10 in (3.3 m) |
| Propulsion | 2 × 1,800 bhp (1,342 kW) Atlas[1] or 2 × 2,060 bhp (1,536 kW) Krupp[2] diesel engines, two shafts |
| Speed | 15 knots |
| Complement | 74 |
| Armament | |
The second USS Cythera (PY-31) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1942 to 1944 and in non-commissioned service from 1944 to 1946. She also served in the Israeli Navy as INS Ma'oz (K 234) from 1948 to 1956.
In addition to naval service, the vessel operated as the blockade runner Ben Hecht to smuggle Jewish refugees into Mandatory Palestine, as a civilian yacht under various names, and as a ferry in Italy.