USS Argus ( PY - 14 ) USS " Argus " ( PY - 14 ) was a patrol yacht that saw service in the United States Navy during World War II . Named for the Argus ( a monster with a hundred eyes supposedly slain by the Greek mythological messenger of the gods , Hermes ) , she was the second U . S . Navy vessel to bear the name . Career . A yacht built in 1929 at Kiel , Germany by Germaniawerft as Haida , the ship was acquired by the Navy on 25 October 1940 from Mrs . Max C . Fleischmann of Glenbrook , Nevada ; converted at Long Beach , California by the Craig Shipbuilding Company for naval service ; renamed USS " Argus " ( PY - 14 ) on 14 November 1940 ; and commissioned on 13 February 1941 with Lieutenant Commander Harold H . Connelley in command . " Argus " arrived in San Francisco on 19 February 1941 and began duty patrolling San Francisco Bay as a unit of the Patrol force , 12th Naval District . That assignment lasted until May 1941 , when she was reassigned to what appears to have been a successor organization — Patrol Squadron 1 , Local Defense Force , 12th Naval District . Her duty , however , remained substantially the same as before , patrolling San Francisco Bay . She continued to perform this task until decommissioned on 17 September . She was then transferred to the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey . United States Coast and Geodetic Survey career . Renamed Pioneer , she served the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey for eight months before she was returned to the United States Navy in March 1942 . Return to Navy service . " Pioneer " was returned to the Navy on 16 March 1942 and , after reconversion at the General Engineering & Drydock Company , she was recommissioned at San Francisco on 18 April , again as USS " Argus " ( PY - 14 ) . The converted yacht resumed her patrols of San Francisco Bay under the auspices of the Commandant , 12th Naval District , and continued that duty for the remainder of her naval career . There were two notable events during her wartime career . The first occurred when " Argus " rescued the 60 survivors from the Liberty ship , which had been torpedo ed and sunk by the on 30 October 1944 . " I - 12 " , after ramming and sinking the lifeboats and rafts , had then machine - gunned the 70 survivors in the water , killing 10 . A Pan American Airways plane spotted " John A . Johnson " s remaining men soon thereafter , and " Argus " recovered them at 21 : 35 on 30 October . She disembarked them at San Francisco on 3 November . and then teamed up to sink " I - 12 " 10 days later . In the second event , " Argus " participated in the establishment of a weather station on Clipperton Island , southwest of Acapulco , Mexico . Departing San Francisco on 4 December 1944 with meteorological personnel embarked , the converted yacht reached the island a week later and landed her passengers . With the American colors hoisted over the island , the naval weather station was set up that day , supported at the outset by " Argus " . The yacht was decommissioned at San Francisco on 15 April 1946 . Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 21 May , and she was transferred to the Maritime Commission on 30 October for disposal . Return to yacht service . The ship was sold in late 1946 and renamed Sarina . Owners included Egyptian cotton magnate Maurice Ada , American industrialist Larry Green , British Member of Parliament Loel Guinness , and film producer Robert Stigwood . The Sarina was renamed Rosenkavalier in 1981 by a Greek owner , possibly Stanley Steeger ; sold again to the Isaka family of Yokohama in 1988 , and returned to Greek ownership in 1992 . In 1999 a new owner refurbished and renamed her Haida G . The " Haida G " has been restored to her original condition , including a refit of the original main engines and is still in commercial service .