USS Orca (SP-726)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Orca.

The first USS Orca (SP-726) was a yacht that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1918.

USS Orca (SP-726) exercising at Rockland Section Base, Rockland, Maine, in 1918 with patrol vessels USS Content (SP-538) (left center background) and USS Kangaroo (SP-1284) (astern of Orca) and various small boats.

Private yacht Orca prior to her 1917-1918 U.S. Navy service as USS Orca (SP-726).
History
United States
Name	USS Orca
Namesake	The orca or killer whale (previous name retained)
Builder	George Lawley & Son, Neponset, Massachusetts
Completed	1901
Acquired	17 May 1917
Commissioned	8 May 1917
Decommissioned	30 December 1918
Stricken	18 August 1919
Fate	Sold 2 February 1920
Notes	Operated as private yacht Monaloa and Orca 1901-1917
General characteristics
Type	Patrol vessel
Displacement	37 tons
Length	85 ft 0 in (25.91 m)
Beam	11 ft 8 in (3.56 m)
Draft	4 ft 3 in (1.30 m)
Speed	12.5 knots
Complement	15
Armament	1 × 1-pounder gun 1 × machine gun

Orca was built as the steam yacht Monaloa by George Lawley & Son, Neponset, Massachusetts. Later renamed Orca, she was commissioned into the U.S. Navy for World War I service on 8 May 1917 with Boatswain F. D. Grassie in command and was formally purchased by the United States Government from S. W. Colten of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, on 17 May 1917.

Operating in the 1st Naval District, headquartered at Boston, Massachusetts, during World War I, Orca patrolled in and around Boston throughout her naval career.

She was moored to Fishe Wharf, Boston, from October to December 1918. In December, she steamed to Quincy, Massachusetts, where she decommissioned on 30 December 1918.

Orca was struck from the Naval Register and ordered sold on 18 August 1919. She was sold to Frazer Brace and Company of New York City on 2 February 1920.

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 Historical Center: Online Library of Selected Images: Civilian Ships: Orca (American Steam Yacht, 1901). Previously named Monaloa. Served as USS Orca (SP-726) in 1917-1920