Wadena, the yacht of J. H. Wade II, is seen underway on 15 July 1897. Wadena was converted to a patrol boat for the United States Navy during World War I
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | Wadena |
Owner | Jeptha Homer Wade II |
Builder | |
Cost | $250,000–300,000[2] |
Yard number | 13[1] |
Launched | 1891 |
Identification | U.S. Official Number: 81346[1] |
United States | |
Name | USS Wadena (SP-158) |
Acquired | 25 May 1917 |
Commissioned | 14 January 1918 |
Stricken | 24 April 1919 |
Decommissioned | 19 May 1919 |
Fate | Abandoned and scrapped 1931 |
General characteristics | |
Tonnage | 246 t. |
Length | 176 ft (54 m) |
Beam | 20 ft 10 in (6.35 m) |
Draft | 10 ft 6 in (3.20 m) |
Propulsion | triple expansion steam engine |
Sail plan | schooner rig |
Speed | 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) |
Complement | 66 |
Armament |
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USS Wadena (SP-158) was a converted yacht patrol vessel of the United States Navy during World War I. She was built in 1891 in Cleveland, Ohio, as a steam yacht for Jeptha Homer Wade II of Cleveland and New York City. During her Navy career, Wadena made several trips escorting submarine chasers across the Atlantic Ocean, and, later, patrolling in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. on 26 February 1918 Wadena came to the aid of sinking tug Mariner and rescued all of her crew.
During her career as Wade's personal yacht, she sailed to the Far East in 1895, calling at ports in Japan and China. After the yacht had rescued a Japanese boat in distress, Emperor Meiji attempted to purchase Wadena. Although Wade declined the offers, the ship, after moving on to visit ports in China, was detained for several hours under suspicion of being a Japanese vessel.
Wadena was sold several times after her Navy career ended in 1919, eventually being abandoned and scrapped in 1931.
Wadena was a steel-hulled yacht built in 1891 as the personal yacht for Jeptha Home Wade II by the Cleveland Shipbuilding Company of Cleveland, Ohio. Wade was the grandson of Jeptha Home Wade, the founder of Western Union Telegraph. Wadena was outfitted with a triple expansion steam engine and was also rigged as a schooner for traveling under sail. The steel of her hull ranged from ¼- to ½-inch thickness (6 to 13 mm) and was applied to a steel frame, and her steel decks were covered with wood. The ship was painted white with teak trimming and featured a gilded mermaid as a figurehead at her prow.[3]
The ship was fitted with six watertight compartments and ballast tanks capable of holding 18 short tons (16 t) of water.[3] Wadena was the first yacht on the Great Lakes to be equipped with Coston night signal lights.[4] The yacht carried a crew of 26 officers and men and carried four boats including a steam launch and a metal lifeboat[3]
Wadena was equipped with machinery to distill up to 1,200 US gallons (4,500 L; 1,000 imp gal) of fresh water daily, and a refrigeration system that was capable of producing 3,000 pounds (1,400 kg) of ice daily in addition to chilling food storage areas. The same system also served as both a cooling and a heating system for the ship. The yacht also boasted all-electric lighting from 135 lamps of 16 candlepower (cp) (15½ candela (cd)) and a searchlight of 2,000 cp (1,950 cd).[2]
The chartroom, paneled in mahogany and featuring plate glass windows and a settee, served as a lounge or smoking room in mild weather. A curved mahogany staircase led down to the library, which was well-stocked with books and finished in white mahogany with salmon tapestry adorned with roses. Over a hidden writing desk—revealed at the touch of a button—was carved the aphorism "The sea and air are common to all men". The library was illuminated by natural light from a ground glass dome and six portholes, but was also equipped with six electric lights.[3]
On the port side of the library was the room of Wade's personal physician, Dr. Powell, who accompanied the family on their trips overseas. On the starboard side were rooms for Wade's children. The room for his two sons featured white mahogany and blue tapestry, while the room for his daughter, white mahogany and rose tapestry. Near the daughter's room was the gun case, containing a mix of revolvers, shotguns, rifles, and cutlasses, which were thought to come in handy during visits to the South Seas.[3]
Wade's stateroom had elaborately carved mahogany, a double bed, a closet, moveable reading desk, and a porcelain-lined bathtub with hot and cold running water. The table in the dining room seated eight and was furnished in polished red mahogany. The dining room also featured a wine closet, a butler's pantry and a dumb waiter to the galley below. The main saloon held a piano festooned with Cupids blowing on pipes.[3]
After outfitting and trials were completed in November 1891, Wadena traveled from Cleveland and up through the Saint Lawrence Seaway and around to Boston and New York. From there she sailed in January 1892 to the Bahamas and on to meet her owner and family in Sicily.[3] In April, rumors that asserted Wadena had sunk in the Mediterranean, perhaps fueled by the how low the boat sat in the water, were dispelled in the American press.[3][5] The family was accompanied on this initial trip by Wade's mother-in-law, and by his brother-in-law George A. Garretson, a West Point graduate who would later serve as a general in the Spanish–American War.[6][5]
From June 1894 to June 1895, Wadena was on an extended tour to the Far East with the Wade family. While the family traveled via rail to San Francisco and thence to Yokohama, Japan, via a Pacific Mail steamer, Wadena traveled alone to meet them.[7] The yacht steamed east from New York on 16 June 1894 for Malta via Gibraltar. She arrived at the latter port 17 days later, having burned 100 tons of coal en route. From Malta, Wadena re-coaled at La Valette, and then proceeded through the Suez Canal and on eastward to meet the family at Yokohama.[8]
The family called at many ports in Japan and China during their leisurely expedition aboard Wadena. Off the coast of Japan, the yacht rescued a bark in distress, towing it into port. After this, Japanese Emperor Meiji attempted to purchase the Wade's yacht, intending to convert it into a dispatch boat, but the family did not part with their craft. Another sojourn—this one in China's Yangtze River—brought a detention by officials who thought the boat a Japanese vessel in disguise. The yacht was released unharmed after four hours.[7]
After tiring of the Far East, the family retraced Wadena's eastward course, arriving in Naples in late May. From there the family departed their yacht in order to board the American steamer St. Louis for its inaugural westbound transatlantic crossing from Southampton on 15 June 1895. The captain and crew of Wadena sailed her back across the Atlantic with orders to prepare her for racing season, and arrived at New York on 16 June 1895, a year to the day she departed.[7]
In on 6 August 1895, Wadena rammed fishing boat Clara Edena of Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts, 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Tarpaulin Cove, causing severe damage to the fishing boat. Wadena was not significantly damaged in the collision.[9]
Little is known of Wadena’s final years other than she changed hands at least twice more. The yacht was purchased in 1921 by the Aeromarine Plane and Motor Co. of New York, who in turn, sold the ship later in 1921 to Aeromarine Engineering Sales Co. of Keyport, New Jersey. The ship was abandoned and scrapped in 1931.[12]