USS Carola IV, was a patrol ship of the United States Navy, built in 1885 by Culzean Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Maidens, South Ayrshire, Scotland, as the steam yacht Black Pearl. She was built for the Earl of Pembroke & Montgomery. In 1895 the yacht was sold to E B Sheldon of Chicago, Illinois, USA.[1] and in 1900 she was purchased by Evans R Dick of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and renamed Elsa.[2][3] She was later briefly named Haida and Columbine, but by mid-1910 was owned by Leonard Richards of New York City, Commodore of the Larchmont Yacht Club.[1][4]
 USS Carola IV off New York, 1917
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USS Carola IV |
| Builder | Culzean Shipbuilding & Engineering Co |
| Launched | 1885 |
| Acquired | June 1917 |
| Commissioned | July 1917 |
| Decommissioned | December 1919 |
| Fate | Sold |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 240 tons |
| Length | 67 ft (20 m) |
| Beam | 23 ft 4 in (7.11 m) |
| Draft | 13 ft 4 in (4.06 m) |
| Speed | 10 kn (19 km/h) |
| Complement | 68 |
| Armament | 2 x 3" |
In June 1917, she was purchased by the US Navy for World War I service. Commissioned in early July, she crossed the Atlantic to Brest, France, during that month and the next, voyaging by way of Dominion of Newfoundland and the Azores. After a brief patrol operation along the French coast, in October 1917 Carola IV was condemned as unseaworthy and reduced to harbor service as an accommodation vessel.[5] She was employed in that capacity through the end of the Great War and for a year beyond. Carola IV was decommissioned in late December 1919.[6] The vessel was sold to a local Brest buyer.[7]
The ship was broken up in 1957.[7]
References edit
- ^ a b "Black Pearl". Scottish Built Ships. Caledonian Maritime Research Trust. Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
- ^ "Yachts Change Hands". The Sun. No. LXVII, 195. New York, NY. 14 March 1900. p. 5. Retrieved 8 April 2022 – via Library of Congress.
- ^ Yacht Register. London: Lloyd's Register of British & Foreign Shipping. 1901–1902. p. 288.
- ^ "Yachting: Larchmont Y. C." Forest & Stream. No. LXXV, 1. New York, NY. 9 July 1910. p. 61. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
- ^ Williams, Greg H. (2017). The United States Merchant Marine in World War I : ships, crews, shipbuilders and operators. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. 111. ISBN 9781476626727. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
- ^ "Carola IV". DANFS. Naval History and Heritage Command, US Navy. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.