USS Luce Bros.

History
United States
NameUSS Luce Bros.
NamesakePrevious name retained
BuilderAlberton & Douglas Machine Company, New London, Connecticut
Completed1877
Acquired
  • Acquired 3 May 1917
  • Delivered July 1917
Commissioned9 August 1917
Decommissioned24 January 1919
FateReturned to owner 28 March 1919
NotesOperated as commercial fishing trawler Luce Bros. 1877-1917 and from 1919
General characteristics
TypePatrol vessel
Tonnage67[1] or 141[2] Gross register tons
Length122 ft (37 m)
Beam19 ft 6 in (5.94 m)
Draft12 ft (3.7 m)
Speed11 knots
Complement26
ArmamentNone

USS Luce Bros. (SP-846) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.

Luce Bros. was built as a commercial "Menhaden Fisherman"-type fishing trawler of the same name in 1877 by the Alberton & Douglas Machine Company at New London, Connecticut. She was rebuilt in 1912-1913 by the White Shipbuilding Company at Sharptown, Maryland.

On 3 May 1917, the U.S. Navy acquired Luce Bros. from her owner, the Dennis Fish & Oil Company of Cape Charles, Virginia, for use as a section patrol boat during World War I. The Navy took delivery of her in July 1917, and she was commissioned at Berkley, Virginia, as USS Luce Bros. (SP-846) on 9 August 1917.

Assigned to the 5th Naval District and based at Norfolk, Virginia, Luce Bros. served in the Norfolk and Hampton Roads area on harbor patrol and guard ship duty and in naval intelligence operations for the rest of World War I.

Luce Bros. was decommissioned on 24 January 1919 and returned to the Dennis Fish & Oil Company on 28 March 1919.