USS ''Sea Hawk'' (SP-2365) was an armed motorboat that served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919. ''Sea Hawk'' was built in 1917 by

Herreshoff Manufacturing Company Nathanael Greene Herreshoff (March 18, 1848 – June 2, 1938) was an American naval architect, mechanical engineer, and yacht design innovator. He produced a succession of undefeated America's Cup defenders between 1893 and 1920. Biography Her ...

Bristol, Rhode Island Bristol is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, US as well as the historic county seat. The town is built on the traditional territories of the Pokanoket Wampanoag. It is a deep water seaport named after Bristol, England. The population of B ...

, as the civilian motorboat ''Herreshoff No. 319''. The U.S. Navy acquired her from Arthur Winslow of Boston, Massachusetts, on 20 October 1917 for

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

service as a patrol boat. She was commissioned as USS ''Sea Hawk'' (SP-2365) in December 1917. ''Sea Hawk'' initially served as a patrol boat in the

1st Naval District The naval district was a U.S. Navy military and administrative command ashore. Apart from Naval District Washington, the Districts were disestablished and renamed Navy Regions about 1999, and are now under Commander, Naval Installations Command ...

, operating in the Boston area. Later she was transferred to the 7th Naval District for employment in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

waters. Due to an urgent need for craft such as ''Sea Hawk'' at

Brest, France Brest (; ) is a port city in the Finistère department, Brittany. Located in a sheltered bay not far from the western tip of the peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French mi ...

, an order dated 14 October 1918 went out from Washington, D.C., to Boston, directing the Commandant of the 1st Naval District to ready six section patrol boats -- USS ''Commodore'', ''Cossack'', ''War Bug'', ''Sea Hawk'', ''Kangaroo'', and ''SP-729''—to be shipped to France as deck cargo along with spare parts to keep them operational. However, this proposed movement appears to have been canceled, probably because of the

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the La ...

with Germany of 11 November 1918 that ended World War I and eliminated the need for more U.S. Navy patrol craft in Europe. Decommissioned after World War I ended, ''Sea Hawk'' remained at

Key West, Florida Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Sigsbee Park, Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Isla ...

, awaiting final disposition with other section patrol boats until the night of 9–10 September 1919, when she disappeared in the

1919 Florida Keys hurricane The 1919 Florida Keys hurricane (also known as the 1919 Key West hurricane) was a massive and damaging tropical cyclone that swept across areas of the northern Caribbean Sea and the United States Gulf Coast in September 1919. Remaining ...

and was not recovered.

References

* for ''Sea Hawk'' * for ''SP-726'' (ex-''Apache'')
Department of the Navy: Naval Historical Center: Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships: USS ''Sea Hawk'' (SP-2365), 1917-1919. Originally named ''Herreshoff 319''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sea Hawk (SP-2365) Patrol vessels of the United States Navy World War I patrol vessels of the United States Ships built in Bristol, Rhode Island 1917 ships Maritime incidents in 1919 Shipwrecks of the Florida Keys