USS J. A. Palmer (SP-319)

History
United States
Name:	USS J. A. Palmer (1917-1919) USS SP-319 (1919)
Namesake:	J. A. Palmer was her previous name retained SP-319 was her section patrol number
Builder:	Jackson and Sharpe, Wilmington, Delaware
Launched:	1911
Completed:	1912
Acquired:	7 April 1917
Commissioned:	7 April 1917
Renamed:	USS SP-319 17 January 1919
Fate:	Transferred to United States Coast Guard 10 September 1919
Notes:	Operated as commercial fishing vessel J. A. Palmer 1912-1917 and as U.S. Coast Guard cable ship USCGC Pequot (1919) 1919-1922
General characteristics
Type:	Patrol vessel
Tonnage:	276 tons
Length:	155 ft (47 m)
Beam:	22 ft (6.7 m)
Draft:	12 ft (3.7 m)
Propulsion:	One compound-expansion steam engine, one shaft
Speed:	12 knots
Armament:	2 × 1-pounder guns
Notes:	Call sign GSRJ

USS J. A. Palmer (SP-319), later USS SP-319, was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission between 1917 and 1919. The vessel was later USCGC Pequot in U.S. Coast Guard service.

U.S. Navy service

J. A. Palmer was built as a wooden commercial fishing vessel of the same name in 1912 by Jackson and Sharpe at Wilmington, Delaware. The U.S. Navy acquired her from her owners, the C. E. Davis Packing Company of Reedville, Virginia, on 7 April 1917 for World War I service as a patrol vessel. She was commissioned the same day as USS J. A. Palmer (SP-319) with Boatswain W. A. Hudgins in command.

Assigned to the 5th Naval District, J. A. Palmer operated on section patrol duty off Cape Henry, Virginia, until February 1918, when she received special cable equipment at Berkeley, Virginia. She then was loaned to the United States Coast Guard for use as a cable ship and steamed along the United States East Coast laying and repairing cable.

To avoid confusion with the destroyer USS Palmer (DD-161), J. A. Palmer's name was dropped on 17 January 1919, and she became USS SP-319 as of that date.

U.S. Coast Guard service

J.A. Palmer was loaned to the Coast Guard in February 1918 and redesignated by the Navy as USS SP-319, 17 January 1919.

USS SP-319 was transferred permanently to the Coast Guard and commissioned on 10 September 1919 for continued use as a cable ship. She served in the Coast Guard as USCGC Pequot (1919) until 1922. She was the first of two Coast Guard cutters named Pequot. During her Coast Guard service Pequot laid cable primarily on the east coast.

On 28 April 1922 Pequot towed her replacement vessel, the former U.S.Army mine planter USAMP General Samuel M. Mills; which was to become the second USCGC Pequot (WARC-58) (1922) from Newport News, Virginia to the depot at United States Coast Guard Yard at Curtis Bay, Maryland.

Pequot was decommissioned on 11 May 1922 and was sold on 8 August 1922 to McNeal Edwards Company, of Reedville, Virginia for $17,000.

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive: USCGC Pequot ex-USS SP-319 ex-USS J. A. Palmer (SP 319)
• U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office USS Pequot (1919) ex-Section Patrol Boat 319 (SP-319) ex-John A. Palmer, Jr.Retrieved: 27 October 2015

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Coast Guard.