USS ''Turquoise'' (PY-18), was a

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

in commission 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 Yacht from 1940 to 1943.

Construction, acquisition, and commissioning

''Ohio''-a diesel yacht built in 1922 at

Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the 5th most populous city in Virginia and 140th most populous city in the U ...

, by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company-was laid down on 1 August 1922; launched on 16 September 1922; and delivered exactly two months later to

Edward Willis Scripps Edward Willis Scripps (June 18, 1854 – March 12, 1926), was an American newspaper publisher and, together with his sister Ellen Browning Scripps, founder of The E. W. Scripps Company, a diversified media conglomerate, and United Press new ...

, the publisher of the Scripps-Howard Newspapers. After Scripps died on board the yacht on 12 March 1926, as she lay anchored in Monrovia Bay, Liberia, the yacht served a succession of owners under the names ''Maramichi'', ''Walucia III'', ''Kallisto'', and ''Entropy''. On 21 August 1940, as America girded for World War II, the United States Navy purchased ''Entropy'' from Robert V. G. Furman of

Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Yo ...

, classified her a

submarine chaser A submarine chaser or subchaser is a small naval vessel that is specifically intended for anti-submarine warfare. Many of the American submarine chasers used in World War I found their way to Allied nations by way of Lend-Lease in World War I ...

, and designated her ''PC-459''. Since American submarine chasers were unnamed during World War II, the ship was known simply by her hull number, ''PC-459''. The luxury craft entered the Gibbs-Jacksonville Yard at

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

, on 25 September 1940 for conversion for naval use. On 5 December 1940, ''PC-459'' was placed in commission at Jacksonville.

Service history

Following commissioning, ''PC-459'' put into

Charleston Navy Yard Charleston Naval Shipyard (formerly known as the Charleston Navy Yard) was a U.S. Navy ship building and repair facility located along the west bank of the Cooper River, in North Charleston, South Carolina and part of Naval Base Charleston. ...

, Charleston, South Carolina, on 9 December for fitting out. After spending the remainder of December 1940 and the better part of January 1941 in training exercises and shakedown, she got underway for Cuban waters in company with on 21 January. After a brief stay at Guantanamo Bay, ''PC-459'' set out on 30 January for Puerto Rico. Upon arrival at

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the ju ...

on 1 February 1941, ''PC-459'' was reclassified a patrol yacht, designated PY-18, and named ''Turquoise''. Operating under the Commandant of the

10th 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 ...

, ''Turquoise'' patrolled Caribbean waters through July as the

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blocka ...

moved ever closer to neutral waters on the American coast. On 1 August, when the Navy commissioned the Naval Operating Base at

Trinidad, British West Indies Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

, the patrol yacht received orders to report there for duty as temporary station ship. She remained in the vicinity of Trinidad until early December, when she returned to Charleston for refit. On 7 December, the day after she entered the navy yard, the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent for ...

ese

attacked Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, ...

. Four days later, on 11 December,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

declared war on the United States. Her refit shortened, ''Turquoise'' steamed back to Puerto Rico and arrived on 20 December. She operated in the Caribbean on local patrols into the early spring, when she returned to Charleston for availability. Upon the conclusion of the overhaul, she set out for San Juan on 9 April 1942. Upon arrival, she received orders to escort a YP and a dredge to Trinidad and then to report to the Commandant of the Naval Operating Base there for orders. Besides inshore patrol duties out of Trinidad, she also escorted local convoys in the Caribbean area, called at such ports as Gonaives and

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is defin ...

, Haiti, besides the already-frequented San Juan, Trinidad, Key West, Florida, and Guantanamo Bay. But for occasional refits at Charleston, she continued such operations through most of 1943. In December 1943, she received orders to proceed to the Canal Zone.

Transfer to the Ecuadorian Navy

Arriving on 24 December 1943, she was transferred under

lend-lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

to the Ecuadorian Navy on 29 January 1944. The yacht operated under the Ecuadorian flag as ''Nueve de Octobre'' (9 October) through 1949. She was sold to the Ecuadorian government on 13 May 1949 and was struck from the Navy list on 7 June 1949. Renamed ''Esmeraldas'', after a port city in Ecuador, she served with the Ecuadorian Navy into 1953. Esmeraldas ran aground in the Guayas River, near

Guayaquil , motto = Por Guayaquil Independiente en, For Independent Guayaquil , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Ecuador#South America , pushpin_re ...

, and was declared a total loss on 9 September 1953. ''Turquoise'' did not receive any battle stars for her World War II service.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turquoise(PY-18) Patrol vessels of the United States Navy World War II patrol vessels of the United States Ships built in Newport News, Virginia 1922 ships