USS Mayflower (1897)

For other U.S. Coast Guard ships of the same name, see USCGC Mayflower. For other U.S. Navy ships of the same name, see USS Mayflower and USS Suwanee.
USS Suwanee off Siboney, Cuba, 1898
USS Suwanee (ex-USLHT Mayflower) (center) underway off Siboney, Cuba, in 1898. The troop transport USS St. Louis is at left and the patrol yacht USS Vixen is at right.
History
United States
NameUSLHT Mayflower
NamesakeMayflower
OperatorU.S. Lighthouse Board
BuilderBath Iron Works, Bath, Maine
CostUSD $74,872
CommissionedNovember 1897
FateTransferred to U.S. Navy 27 April 1898
Union Navy Jack United States
NameUSS Suwanee
NamesakeSuwannee River
OperatorUnited States Navy
Commissioned27 April 1898
DecommissionedDecember 1898
Honors and
awards		Cited for "conspicuous service" by the Department of the Navy
FateReturned to the Lighthouse Service, December 1898
United States
NameUSLHT Mayflower
Operator
RecommissionedDecember 1898
FateTransferred to U.S. Navy 10 May 1917
Union Navy Jack United States
NameUSS Mayflower
OperatorU.S. Navy
Recommissioned10 May 1917
FateReturned to U.S. Lighthouse Service 1 July 1919
United States
Name
  • USLHT Mayflower (1919–1939)
  • USCGC Mayflower (1939)
Operator
Recommissioned1 July 1919
DecommissionedDecember 1939
FateTransferred to Maritime Training Service December 1939
United States
Name
  • USCGC Mayflower(WAGL-236) (1940–1943)
  • USCGC Hydrangea (WAGL-236) (1943–1945)
NamesakeMayflower
OperatorU.S. Coast Guard
RecommissionedJuly 1940
Decommissioned8 October 1945
RenamedUSCGC Hydrangea 15 August 1943
FateTransferred to Maritime Commission for disposal and sold
General characteristics
Type
Displacement
  • 630 tons (1897)
  • 572 tons (1919)
  • 821 tons (1945)
Length164 ft 0 in (49.99 m)
Beam30 feet 0 inches (9.14 m)
Draft
  • 8 ft 1 in (2.46 m) (1897)
  • 12 ft (3.7 m) (1919)
  • 9 ft (2.7 m) (1945)
PropulsionTwo Almy watertube coal-fired boilers, two 325 shaft horsepower (242 kW) Steeple compound reciprocating steam engines, two shafts
Speed
  • 9.5 knots (17.6 km/h) (maximum)
  • 8.5 knots (15.7 km/h) (cruising)
Range1,000 nautical miles (1,900 kilometres) (1945)
Complement
  • 29 (1897)
  • 23 (1909)
  • 29 (1919)
  • 40 (1945)
ArmamentIn 1945: Two 20 mm gun mounts, two depth charge tracks

The second USS Suwannee and third USS Mayflower was a United States Lighthouse Board, and later United States Lighthouse Service, lighthouse tender transferred to the United States Navy in 1898 for service as an auxiliary cruiser during the Spanish–American War and from 1917 to 1919 for service as a patrol vessel during World War I. She also served the Lighthouse Board and in the Lighthouse Service as USLHT Mayflower from 1897 to 1898, from 1898 to 1917, and from 1919 to 1939, and in the United States Coast Guard as the first USCGC Mayflower (WAGL-236) in 1939 and from 1940 to 1943 and as USCGC Hydrangea (WAGL-236) from 1943 to 1945.