USS Artemis ( SP - 593 ) USS " Artemis " ( SP - 593 ) , later known as USS " Arcturus " ( SP 593 ) was a yacht acquired by the United States Navy during World War I . " Artemis " was armed with guns and depth charge s , and was sent to Europe as a patrol craft to protect Allied ships from German submarines and other dangers . Post - war she was returned to the United States and turned over to the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey . Later , back in civilian operation , she was burned and sank in 1927 . Constructed in Delaware . " Cristina " — a steel - hulled yacht designed by Gielow and Orr , naval architects — was built at Wilmington , Delaware , by Pusey and Jones Co . , for Frederick C . Fletcher of Boston , Massachusetts ; and launched in 1912 . In 1916 or 1917 the Cleveland philanthropist John Long Severance ( 1863 – 1936 ) acquired the yacht and renamed her Artemis . World War I service . Conversion to a warship . After the U . S . entered World War I in the spring of 1917 , the Navy , in its wide - ranging search for ships suitable to serve as patrol craft , acquired " Artemis " early that summer . Delivered on 4 July 1917 , the yacht was earmarked for " distant service " 10 days later , and assigned the identification number " SP - 593 " . On 9 October 1917 , Captain Newton A . McCully assumed command of Squadron 5 , Patrol Force , and , over the ensuing days , inspected the vessels tentatively assigned to his command . After visiting " Artemis " at Shewan ' s Shipyard , Brooklyn , New York , he reported her to be a " good , well - built , apparently seaworthy boat . . . " and recommended that her conversion work be expedited . Accordingly , on 17 October 1917 , " Artemis " ( SP - 593 ) was placed in commission , Lt . Comdr . Stanton L . H . Hazard in command . Over the next week , " Artemis " remained at the Shewan yard , undergoing the modifications necessary to convert her from a peacetime cruising yacht to a diminutive man - of - war — such alterations as the installation of gun mount s and magazines , the fitting - out quarters for officers and men , and the overhauling of her boilers and machinery . During that time , Capt . McCully twice visited the ship ( on 18 and 24 October ) to check personally the progress of the work . On 1 November , " Artemis " shifted to the New York Navy Yard where she received her main battery of two guns . Two days later , she stood out of New York harbor with the French subchaser " SC - S5 " in tow , bound for Bermuda . Proceeding to Europe . " Artemis " initial mission was a part in the operation of towing ten subchasers — built in American boatyards for the French government — from New York City to Leixoes , Portugal . Each chaser was assigned to a converted yacht which would tow and maintain her . " Artemis " towed her charge — " SC - 65 " — to Bermuda where she arrived on 9 November to coal ship and provision . " Artemis " stood out of Grassy Bay on 18 November , and , three hours out picked up a towline from " Hannibal " that would pull her for over three days . The plans had called for the chasers to depart after the converted yachts had left , overhauling the latter at their best economical speed . After effecting a rendezvous , the yachts were to tow the chasers as far as the Azores . Unfortunately , bad weather interfered . Encountering bad weather . and " Wenonah " left the column on 21 November to search for and the French subchasers ; and , the following day , " Artemis " cast off from " Hannibal " and took under tow her former charge , " SC - 65 " . A week later , after standing by as " SC - 65 " provisioned at sea from " Hannibal " , she cast off the one chaser and picked up another , " SC - 66 " . " Hannibal " undertook towing a veritable train of ships and craft on 1 December , as she took Artemis in tow for the second time , the yacht towing , in turn , " SC - 315 " and " SC - 65 " . Upon arrival off the port of Fayal , Horta , in the Azores , on 7 December , " Artemis " proceeded under her own power , releasing " SC - 315 " but retaining " SC - 65 " — the latter disabled by a defective fuel pump — and took her into Fayal . " Artemis " got underway once more on the morning of the 9th with " SC - 65 " tethered astern . " Hannibal " , , and also accompanied her — with the latter two each towing a subchaser , " SC - 315 " and " SC - 347 " , respectively . Both of these vessels , like " SC - 65 " , had been disabled by defective fuel pumps . Arrival in the Azores . After reaching Ponta Delgada , Azores , the next day , " Artemis " served as guardship for the harbor on 14 December and conducted target practice beyond the limit on the 17th - 18th before leaving the Azores on the final leg of the voyage to Leixoes , with " SC - 65 " astern once more . During the passage , the ship ran into foul weather on the 21st . " Artemis " rolled deeply in the heavy seas ; and the towline parted , leaving " SC - 65 " to her own devices . Fortunately , repairs enabled her to resume the voyage under her own power . Two days later , Capt . McCully , the squadron commander , embarked in May , directed " Artemis " — battered by the storm — to put into Gibraltar for repairs , and she arrived there on 26 December 1917 . Rescuing survivors of a U - boat attack . Over the next month , " Artemis " underwent voyage repairs before she again stood out to sea on 28 January 1918 to serve as part of the escort for a convoy then forming up for Bizerte , Tunisia . The next day at 14 : 50 , while " Artemis " was steaming on the left wing of the formation , an enemy submarine torpedo ed the convoy guide , " SS Maizar " , striking the merchantman ' s port side , forward of her bridge . " Artemis " and the other escorts immediately went to general quarters . As the hunt proceeded fruitlessly , " Maizar " settled , forward , and her crew abandoned her . " Artemis " took on board 16 of the ship ' s survivors ; and at 15 : 50 , the convoy ' s screen gave up the hunt and secured from general quarters . The convoy arrived at Bizerte on 3 February , without further mishap . The following day , after having coaled at Sidi Abdullah , " Artemis " stood out of Bizerte harbor with the Gibraltar - bound convoy , GB - 12 . No enemy submarines molested the Allied ships during the passage , and they all reached " Gib " safely during the predawn darkness of 9 February . Another U - boat alarm . However , for " Artemis " , there was no resting from her labors . Underway again for Bizerte on 14 February , the yacht saw an explosion on board " SS Vidar " and called all hands to stations , but , even as she surged forward , she determined the explosion to be internal — not caused by a submarine torpedo — and stood down from battle stations . The next afternoon , another merchantman , " SS Tenterton " , sounded the submarine alarm ; and " Artemis " spent almost an hour at general quarters , searching for the supposed submersible before securing at 15 : 10 , empty - handed . Two hours later , fired one shell which sent " Artemis " to battle stations again and put her on a zig - zag course off the port quarter of the formation . When her lookouts sighted no sign of an enemy , the ship stood down again . " Artemis " continued to escort convoys between Gibraltar and North Africa into mid - March : convoys BG - 12 ( 20 – 24 February ) , GB - 16 ( 2 – 6 March ) , and BG - 17 ( 12 – 17 March ) before Lt . Comdr . Hazard — relieved by 1st Lt . C . F . Howell , USCG , on 29 March — left the ship for duty in " Birmingham " . " Artemis " soon went to sea under her new commanding officer with a convoy to Bizerte ( 3 – 7 April ) and commenced the return voyage with a Gibraltar - bound convoy on 8 April . However , fresh westerly breezes soon began breaking up the " good formation " enjoyed since the voyage had begun . " Artemis " , playing a shepherd to her straying flock , managed to prod " SS North Pacific " and " SS Jason " back in line before the yacht ' s engineers noted a recurrence of her chronic condenser trouble . Ship repairs in Algiers . At 20 : 20 on 10 April , " Artemis " received permission from the escort commander to leave the convoy and headed toward Algiers for repairs . At 09 : 52 on the 11th , her engines ceased throbbing , the steam exhausted . The tug " Alger " arrived on the scene shortly before noon and , together with a French tug , towed the ailing yacht into Algiers harbor . After a brief drydocking ( 13 – 17 April ) , the converted yacht got underway on 23 April to return to Gibraltar and arrived there on the 25th . Continued convoy operations . Five days later , she sailed to carry out a special escort mission . On 1 May , as " Artemis " was proceeding toward rendezvous with an American merchantman off Cartagena , Spain , she spotted two suspicious - looking submarines — escorted by a torpedo boat — operating on the surface within Spanish territorial waters . The former yacht went to general quarters . She arrived at her designated rendezvous point off Escombrera Island at 15 : 20 and then stood in towards the coast , carefully plotting her course so that it did not take her within the limit . Soon thereafter , the torpedo boat commenced making " an immense smoke screen " that effectively concealed the entrance into Cartagena of the strange submersibles . About three hours later , " SS Don Neal " — " Artemis " ' assigned charge — stood out of Cartagena Harbor . The yacht took her into convoy at 18 : 50 and set a course for Oran , French Morocco . As " Don Neal " plodded along at , her escort zig - zagged watchfully , on each side of the base course and made a complete circle of her consort every half - hour . Twice , the latter appeared to have been rather casual about " darkening ship . " Fortunately , enemy submarines were not afoot , and the little convoy reached Oran safely on 2 May . Dropping depth charges on a U - boat . As before , though , the respite afforded the yacht was slight . She weighed anchor again on 3 May , bound for Gibraltar . Daybreak the following day found the ship steaming on the right wing of the formation , gun watches and lookouts posted as usual . At 07 : 25 , " Artemis " sighted " what was undoubtedly the wake of a submerged submarine , " and went to general quarters . Two minutes later , the convoy guide sounded the alarm by whistle and flag hoist . Then , six minutes after the initial sighting , " Artemis " dropped a depth charge to port over bubbles and the slick water that apparently marked the submarine ' s path beneath the waves . After the resultant explosion , " Artemis " cautiously claimed possible destruction of the undersea craft , but postwar accounting revealed the loss of no submarine on that day . She subsequently sighted the wreckage of a large schooner ( possibly an earlier submarine victim ) " evidently damaged by gunfire " lying on her beam ends . Several ships of the convoy , apparently thinking that the low shape of the wreck might be a surfaced submarine , fired at it . Soon after the hunt , " Artemis " rejoined the convoy and shepherded it into Gibraltar ' s harbor on 5 May . The next day , the ship received on board and fitted two racks for her depth charges and nine American Mark II , mod . 1 charges to go with them . Hurried departure from Oran . " Artemis " then operated between Gibraltar , Algiers , and Oran through mid - May , visiting Oran for the second time during that period , embarking five survivors of the torpedoed British merchantman " SS Mavisbrook " for passage to Gibraltar . Evidently , the return passage was of an urgent nature , for at 18 : 00 on 26 May , " Artemis " received orders to round up her liberty party and get underway in two hours . For those next two hours , five petty officer s from the ship scoured the Oran waterfront looking for " Artemis " ' sailors and returned at 20 : 15 with all but three . Weighing anchor at 20 : 27 , almost a half - hour behind schedule , the yacht proceeded out to sea but soon encountered her old gremlin — boiler trouble . She arrived back at Oran on the morning of the 27th , where the three missing men rejoined the ship . Repaired , " Artemis " put to sea again on 28 May , but the chronic condenser casualties aborted her mission of escorting merchantman " SS Ixion " to Gibraltar ; and the yacht returned to anchorage the next day . Underway again on the last day of May with a convoy of six merchantmen and five tugs , " Artemis " finally reached Gibraltar on 2 June . Change of name to Arcturus . " Artemis " log carries the interesting notation on 2 June : " Received notice from Commander , U . S . Patrol Squadrons based on Gibraltar [ of ] change of name of vessel from " Artemis " to Arcturus in accordance with General Order No . 371 . . . " Interestingly , that order had been signed on 20 February 1918 . The ship had operated for over three months before the official change caught up with her . Although her name was now different , her duties remained the same . Still based on Gibraltar , " Arcturus " , over the next two months , thrice escorted the cable ship " Amber " to Lagos Bay , Portugal , the latter apparently laboring on undersea lines of communication along the Portuguese coast . Interspersed with this duty was a stint escorting the French transport " Souirah " ( 6 – 9 July ) and missions transporting high - ranking passengers , such as Rear Admiral Albert P . Niblack , General Sir Herbert Guthrie - Smith , and the Episcopal Dean of Gibraltar to Tangier , Morocco , and back ( 10 July ) as well as taking on board 32 survivors of the Italian merchantman " SS Silvia " from the Spanish bark " Suarez II " ( 10 July ) for passage back to Gibraltar . Return to Gibraltar operations . " Arcturus " spent August 1918 at Lisbon , Portugal , for repairs before she resumed operations on Gibraltar after escorting the French submarine " Astree " to " The Rock " on 6 – 7 September . As a further variation on her regular theme of escort duty , " Arcturus " twice voyaged to Tangier and back , transporting Moors from Gibraltar to Morocco ( 10 – 11 September ) . She rounded out September with escorting the British merchantman " SS Wethersfield " to Hornillo , Spain ( 23 – 24 September ) , and another period of operations with the cable ship " Amber " . She operated with " Amber " again from 1 – 5 October before joining " Druid " escorting a convoy of seven ( ultimately , eight ) merchantmen along the Spanish coastal route to Port Vendres , France from 8 – 13 October . Returning to Gibraltar on the 16th , " Arcturus " weighed anchor 11 days later and headed for Lagos Bay , Portugal , in company with " Amber " and the tug " Crucis " . Following the three ships ' arrival at that port , " Arcturus " operated there and at Sines Bay , Portugal before steaming to Lisbon for coal and provisions . Arcturus sends out a SOS . She returned to Lagos Bay on 5 November and rejoined " Amber " and " Crucis " . The next day , " Arcturus " met Neptune ' s fury at its fullest . Shortly after noon , the ship became increasingly unmanageable due to heavy seas , and steering was shifted to the engines . At 15 : 20 , Ens . J . J . Powers , USNRF , the engineer officer , reported to the captain , Lt . F . William Maennle , USNRF , that there was a leak in the engine room which the pumps could not control . With the water in the engineering spaces rising rapidly , Maennle ordered the engines stopped and the sea anchor launched . These efforts , however , proved unequal to the task of making " Arcturus " ride the seas head - to . Instead , the yacht ' s comparatively large top - hamper acted as a veritable sail which the wind used to swing the ship around broadside . At 15 : 25 , " Arcturus " began broadcasting S . O . S . signals — answered swiftly by her old consort " Amber " and the tugs " Oporto " and " Monsanta " . In the meantime , with the engineers laboring in the sloshing , rising waters below , " Arcturus " put over " oil bags " on the weather side to minimize the effect of the heavy seas . Despite this , however , the yacht rolled " dangerously " in the trough of the sea . In view of the critical situation , Lt . Maennle mustered all hands — except those detailed to the sea anchor , radio , oil bags , and locating the leak in the engine room — at their abandon ship stations , with their life preservers on . Prepared for the worst , " Arcturus " ' men hung on . Then , shortly after Amber came close aboard at 15 : 55 to be told to stand by to leeward . Ens . Powers reported at 16 : 00 that he and his persevering ( and wet ) engineers had located the leak — the main injection pump had carried away — and efforts were being made to stop it and pump out the water which had risen to a height of in the engine and fire rooms . The situation then looked much better for all concerned , so " Arcturus " annulled her S . 0 . S . signals at 16 : 08 , with " Amber " and " Crucis " sticking faithfully near . At 16 : 25 , temporary repairs completed , " Arcturus " was ready to get underway and proceed to Lisbon . Accompanied initially by her two consorts ( which she lost sight of at 00 : 45 on the 7th ) , the converted yacht reached her destination at 09 : 35 on 7 November . End - of - war operations . At 13 : 50 on 11 November , while still at Lisbon undergoing repairs , " Arcturus " received word of the armistice , ending hostilities , and the admonition to naval vessels to maintain " all precautions against attack from submarines . " Those enemy men - of - war were to be treated as " friendly unless hostilities are obvious . " Return to America . On 6 December , " Arcturus " embarked six passengers for transportation back to the U . S . , and at 07 : 00 on the 7th got underway for home in company with , " Surveyor " , the Coast Guard cutters " Yamacraw " , " Druid " and " Wenonah " . One day out of Ponta Delgada , " Arcturus " suffered the now - familiar problem with her condensers ; and , while the other ships proceeded on , " Surveyor " stood by the ailing " Arcturus " on 11 December . Subsequently encountering more condenser troubles occasioned by the pounding the ship was taking in the December gales , " Arcturus " had to be taken in tow by " Surveyor " on Christmas Day . Casting off on the 27th , " Arcturus " arrived at Grassy Bay under her own power the following day . On the last day of 1918 , the yacht sailed for New London , Connecticut on the last leg of her homeward - bound voyage . Reaching New London on 3 January 1919 , " Arcturus " spent over two months ( with the exception of a trip to Melville , Rhode Island and back on 4 – 5 January 1919 , for coal ) at the District Base , New London , assigned to the Atlantic Fleet ' s Reserve Squadron . Underway for New York City on 25 March , the yacht moored at pier 72 , East River , that evening . She moved to the navy yard two days later , for coal , and ultimately arrived at Ulmer Park Marine Basin , Brooklyn , New York , on 30 March . Post - war decommissioning . Shifting briefly to the Staten Island Shipbuilding Co . at Mariners ' Harbor , she returned to the Ulmer Park basin at noon on 2 May . Soon thereafter , " Arcturus " was simultaneously decommissioned on 5 May , struck from the Naval Vessel Register , and turned over to the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey . Subsequent maritime career . " Arcturus " ' service with that agency proved to be short , since she was returned to the Navy on 15 January 1920 and ordered " inspected for sale . " Sold to J . M . Scott of New York City on 4 October , she resumed her prewar name , " Artemis " , and retained it for the rest of her days . Sometime during 1924 or 1925 , J . W . Hunter , a British subject , acquired " Artemis " , but passed ownership to another Briton , R . Rose , about a year later . Subsequently acquired by the Tropical Fruit and Steamship Co . , a Honduran firm , " Artemis " burned and sank in February 1927