USS Kingfisher (SP-76), a motor launch, was built in 1916 by George Lawley & Sons, Neponset, Massachusetts; acquired by the U.S. Navy on 8 May 1917 from her owner, R. P. Mathiesson, Chicago, Illinois; and commissioned 15 May at Newport, Rhode Island, Ensign R. P. Mathiesson, USNRF, in command.
Assigned to the 2nd Naval District, Newport, Rhode Island, Kingfisher enrolled in the Naval Coast Defense Reserve on 9 June. Based at New London, Connecticut, she patrolled Long Island Sound.
On 7 January 1919 she was ordered returned to her former owner. USS Kingfisher decommissioned 22 January, and was turned over to her previous owner 4 March.
Famous quotes containing the word kingfisher:
“the mud
Flies from his hunching wings and beak—my heart,
The blue kingfisher dives on you in fire.”
—Robert Lowell (1917–1977)