Lowell (S. P. 504)
1917-1919
The Navy retained the name carried by this vessel at the time she was acquired.
(S. P. 504: tonnage 367 (gross register); length 119'4" (between perpendiculars); beam 29'0"; draft 6'9" (mean); speed 9.0 knots (trial).; complement 20; armament 2 1-pounders)
Lowell, a steam lighter, was built in 1909 by Verdin's Yard, Staten Island, N.Y.; rebuilt in 1917 as a single-screw steam tug by Shewan's Dry Dock Co., Brooklyn, N.Y.; acquired by the Navy under charter on 29 September 1917 from her owner, Neptune Line, Inc., New York City; and taken over and commissioned the same day at Tompkinsville, Staten Island, N.Y., CBM H. H. Graves, USNRF, in command.
Assigned to the Third Naval District, and carried in Ship's Data: U.S. Naval Vessels as a minesweeper,Lowell throughout the Great War [World War I] operated out of New York harbor as a dispatch and harbor patrol craft. In addition she swept for mines in the New York Narrows and off southern Long Island. After the Armistice (11 November 1918), she was decommissioned on 16 May 1919 and was returned to her owner the same day.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
15 July 2024
