USS ''Coco'' (SP-110) was an armed motorboat that served in the United States Navy as a Section patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919. ''Coco'' was built in 1917 by the Albany Boat Corporation at

Watervliet, New York Watervliet ( or ) is a City (New York), city in Albany County, New York, Albany County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The population was 10,375 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Watervliet is north of Albany, ...

for

William John Matheson William John Matheson (1856–1930) was an American industrialist. Born in Wisconsin, he was educated in Scotland where he learned about recent breakthroughs in the development of aniline dyes. Matheson became an early importer and distributor of s ...

of New York and Coconut Grove, Florida. The U.S. Navy purchased ''Coco'' from her owner for $5,500 on 23 June 1917 for use as a section patrol boat during World War I. She was commissioned on 23 July 1917 as USS ''Coco'' (SP-110) armed with one machine gun. The motorboat's dimensions were length, beam with a draft of and with a maximum speed of and cruising speed of with one Sterling eight cylinder engine of 200 indicated horsepower.The boat's ''Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships'' entry states that Coco served in a non-commissioned status, but the contemporary ''Ships' Data U.S. Naval Vessels'' states that she was commissioned with date. Assigned to the Section patrol in the 7th Naval District, ''Coco'' served in Florida waters for the rest of the war and for some months after the fighting ended. ''Coco'' was one three of Matheson's yachts in government service, the others being ''Marpessa'' and ''Calabash''. ''Coco'' was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 23 June 1919. The motorboat was sold on 5 August. Before she could be delivered to her new owner, M. C. Carmichael, she was among several patrol boats wrecked 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 ...

on 9–10 September while anchored in North Beach Basin at

Key West 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 Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...

, Florida.

Footnotes

References

External links

NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive: Coco (SP 110)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coco (SP-110) Patrol vessels of the United States Navy World War I patrol vessels of the United States Ships built in New York (state) 1917 ships Shipwrecks of the Florida Keys Maritime incidents in 1919