USS Mary Pope (SP-291) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.

USS Mary Pope sometime between 1917 and 1919.
History
United States
NameUSS Mary Pope
NamesakePrevious name retained
BuilderGas Engine and Power Company and Charles L. Seabury Company, Morris Heights, the Bronx, New York
Completed1915
Acquired7 July 1917[1]
Commissioned9 August 1917
Stricken31 March 1919
FateWrecked 10 September 1919
NotesOperated as civilian motorboat Manitee, Madge, and Mary Pope 1915-1917
General characteristics
TypePatrol vessel
Tonnage13 tons
Length52 ft (16 m)
Beam8 ft 5 in (2.57 m)
Draft2 ft 7 in (0.79 m)
PropulsionGasoline engine, one shaft
Speed14.7 knots
Complement4
Armament1 × machine gun
A photograph and interior general arrangement plan for the civilian motorboat that later became USS Mary Pope. This photograph probably was taken in 1915, when the boat was new and operating under her original name, Manitee.

Mary Pope was built as the civilian wooden-hulled motorboat Manitee in 1915 by the Gas Engine and Power Company and the Charles L. Seabury Company at Morris Heights in the Bronx, New York. She later was renamed Madge and then Mary Pope.

The U.S. Navy purchased Mary Pope from her owner, R. W. Bingham, on 7 July 1917[2] for World War I service as a patrol vessel. She was commissioned on 9 August 1917 as USS Mary Pope (SP-291).

Mary Pope operated on section patrol duties for the rest of World War I.

After the war, Mary Pope was stricken from the Navy List on 31 March 1919 and was put up for sale. She was at Key West, Florida, awaiting sale when she was destroyed by a hurricane on 10 September 1919.

Notes

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  1. ^ Per the Naval History and Heritage Command Online Library of Selected Images (at http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-m/sp291.htm) and NavSource Online (at http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/170291.htm). The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m5/mary_pope.htm) claims that she was acquired on 9 August 1917, but the other sources appear to have concluded that this confused her commissioning date with her acquisition date.
  2. ^ Per the Naval History and Heritage Command Online Library of Selected Images (at http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-m/sp291.htm) and NavSource Online (at http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/170291.htm). The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/m5/mary_pope.htm) claims that she was acquired on 9 August 1917, but the other sources appear to have concluded that this confused her commissioning date with her acquisition date.

References

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