USS Wakiva II (SP-160) - Navy Career

Navy Career

Wakiva II was a steel-hulled steam yacht built in the United Kingdom at Leith, Scotland, by Ramage and Ferguson for Lamon V. Harkness. She was launched on 3 February 1907, and served first Lamon Harkness and then his son Harry in the days before World War I. While owned by the Harkness family, Wakiva II ranged from the North Sea to the Netherlands East Indies.

After the United States entered World War I, the United States Navy acquired Wakiva II on 20 July 1917 and commissioned her as USS Wakiva II on 6 August 1917 at the Boston Navy Yard in Boston, Massachusetts, Lieutenant Commander Thomas R. Kurtz in command. While shipwrights were still laboring to complete the conversion of the erstwhile pleasure craft to a man-of-war for "distant service," Captain Thomas P. Magruder made Wakiva II his flagship as Commander, Squadron Four, Patrol Force, on 18 August 1917.

Necessary alterations complete, Wakiva II departed Boston on 25 August 1917 bound for Provincetown, Massachusetts, in company with six French submarine chasers and the remainder of the squadron — a collection of converted fishing vessels and patrol boats. The ships departed Provincetown 26 August 1917 for France.

Wakiva II paused at Ponta Delgada in the Azores from 6 September 1917 to 11 September 1917, towing P. K. Bauman part of the distance from the United States, due to a breakdown in P. K. Bauman's propulsion system, and arrived at Brest, France, on 18 September 1917. On 27 September 1917, Captain Magruder hauled down his pennant to establish headquarters ashore.

Released from flagship duty, Wakiva II soon commenced her convoy watchdog duties on the high seas on 28 September 1917, putting to sea to meet a convoy 75 nautical miles (139 km) west of Ushant, France. Wakiva II operated on patrol and escort duty out of Brest from the autumn of 1917.

On 28 October 1917, when transport Finland was torpedoed, Wakiva II and armed yacht Alcedo teamed to pick up survivors, standing towards the damaged ship soon after she was hit. Wakiva II lowered two boats and manned one of the transport's lifeboats, eventually rescuing 126 men before setting course for Brest.

On 23 November 1917, the yacht's lookouts sighted an object 500 yards (460 m) distant which looked initially like a submarine's conning tower. Going to general quarters, the yacht sped towards the contact and commenced fire with her forward guns. After the warship had loosed seven shots, a closer investigation disclosed that the object of their attack — which resulted in the destruction of the object — was a convincingly painted target.

Wakiva II had her first actual head-to-head encounter with the enemy within a week. She sailed from Saint-Nazaire, France, on 28 November 1917 to join up with a westbound convoy. The passage proceeded uneventfully until oiler Kanawha fired off two Very pistol stars and sounded a loud blast on her siren. Thus alerted, Wakiva II sounded general quarters and rang down for full speed ahead. While armed yacht Noma also closed to screen the vulnerable and valuable Kanawha on the starboard side, Wakiva II took up station on the port beam. Thirty minutes of painstaking search revealed nothing to the hunters, however, and the three ships returned to the van of the convoy.

No sooner had the search been discontinued when Noma suddenly sounded another alarm and dropped a depth charge on what her lookouts felt was a submarine. Her crew at general quarters, Wakiva II sped to the scene to assist in the hunt and, at 19:02 hours, while still 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km) from Noma, sighted a periscope 100 yards (91 m) away. Putting over hard-a-port, Wakiva II commenced fire with her after guns. Her third salvo was thought to have sheared the periscope. As the yacht passed over the suspected submarine the second time, she dropped a depth charge barrage, all of which exploded and sent fuel oil and debris to the surface, indicating that they had heavily hit the enemy submersible. Two hits on the wreckage, fired from number one gun, added the coup de grace to what appeared to be a shattered submarine. Wakiva II made a third pass and sighted three men clinging to wreckage, but by the time the yacht had come full circle, all that remained was the heavy smell of fuel oil and bits and pieces of wreckage on the surface of the sea.

The commanding officer of Wakiva II glowingly praised his crew's performance in the subsequent after-action report, noting their work as a "perfect fighting unit." He wrote that his men showed "admirable coolness and courage," and did not manifest any nervousness or inefficiency. Wakiva II, while receiving credit for only a "probably seriously damaged" submarine, by the British Admiralty, nonetheless was commended by Vice Admiral Henry B. Wilson, commanding naval forces on the coast of France, and Admiral William S. Sims, commanding United States Naval Forces in European waters.

On 12 February 1918, Wakiva II, while in company with armed yachts Corsair and May, sighted a submarine running on the surface dead astern. Signalling the report of the sighting to the three ships in the small convoy, U.S. Navy cargo ship Munindies, and merchant ships Florence H., and Thorvald Halvorsen—Wakiva II commenced fire with number two and four 3-inch (76 mm) guns, checking fire momentarily to avoid hitting Florence H., which was steaming just beyond where the enemy submarine had suddenly appeared. The U-boat quickly submerged, and the yacht remained at the scene for 90 minutes before abandoning the search.

Wakiva II maintained a schedule of patrol and escort out of Brest through the late winter.