USS Margo (SP-870)

USS Margo (SP-870) off Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1917 or 1918.
History
United States
Name:	USS Margo
Namesake:	Previous name retained
Builder:	Mathis Yacht Building Company, Camden, New Jersey
Completed:	1913
Acquired:	14 June 1917
Commissioned:	14 June 1917
Fate:	Returned to owner 4 December 1918
Notes:	Operated as private motorboat Margo 1913-1917 and from 1918
General characteristics
Type:	Patrol vessel
Tonnage:	34 gross tons
Length:	65 ft (20 m)
Beam:	14 ft (4.3 m)
Draft:	4 ft (1.2 m)
Speed:	8.6 knots
Complement:	11
Armament:	1 × 1-pounder gun 1 × machine gun

USS Margo (SP-870) sometime in 1917 or 1918.

USS Margo (SP-870) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1918.

Margo was built as a private wooden-hulled motorboat of the same name in 1913 by the Mathis Yacht Building Company at Camden, New Jersey. On 14 June 1917, the U.S. Navy acquired her under a free lease from her owner, G. H. McNelly of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for use as a section patrol boat during World War I. She was commissioned the same day as USS Margo (SP-870) with Ensign Rick F. Nowell, USNRF, in command.

Assigned to the 4th Naval District and based at Philadelphia, Margo carried out patrol duties in the Delaware River area for the rest of World War I.

Margo was returned to McNelly on 4 December 1918.

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• Department of the Navy Naval History and Heritage Command Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships: USS Margo (SP-870), 1917-1918
• NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive Margo (SP 870)