USS Adelante ( SP - 765 ) The iron - hulled , single - screw steam yacht " Utowana " was completed in 1883 at Chester , Pennsylvania , by the Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engineering Works , and , over the ensuing years , was renamed twice — first to " Oneida " ( 1887 ) , then to " Adelante " ( 1913 ) . She was taken over by the U . S . Navy in August 1918 and commissioned as USS " Adelante " ( SP - 765 ) in December 1918 . Employed in setting up radio compass stations along the Maine coast , she was also used as a boarding boat , meeting vessels arriving off the port of Boston . " USS Adelante " was decommissioned in August 1919 and sold in March 1920 , subsequently operating as a commercial tow boat under the names " John Gully " and " Salvager " . The ship was abandoned in 1941 . Ownership . The " Utowana " was renamed the " Oneida " by prominent New York City banker Elias Cornelius Benedict , one of the world ' s leading yachtsman , who acquired the yacht in 1887 . Among the friends and distinguished guests Benedict hosted were Edwin Booth , Thomas Bailey Aldrich and Lawrence Barrett , who conceived The Players club while being entertained on the " Oneida " in 1887 . The " Oneida " served as an impromptu hospital on July 1 , 1893 , when doctors performed a secret operation on Benedict ' s close friend , President Grover Cleveland . A cancerous growth was removed from Cleveland ' s upper jaw as the ship cruised in the East River . Such secrecy had been deemed necessary in order avoid creating a greater financial panic in the country . In March 1913 , Benedict purchased a larger yacht that he christened the " Oneida " . He renamed the " old " " Oneida " the " Adelante " and converted her to a tow vessel . Inspected by the Navy in the 1st Naval District on 9 July 1918 , for potential use as a " tow boat , " Adelante was apparently not delivered to the Navy until 25 August 1918 . Routing instructions indicate that she spent late July in coastwise operations between Philadelphia , New York , Providence , and Boston . Contemporary Navy documentation lists her as a " tug . " Her owner at that time ( 1918 ) , and master , was Theodore Krumm of Melrose , Massachusetts . Given the classification of SP - 765 ( or Id . No . 765 in some sources ) , " Adelante " was commissioned at Lawley ' s Shipyard , Neponset , Massachusetts , on 17 December 1918 , Lt . Edwin W . Keith , USNRF , in command . After fitting out alongside Battery Wharf , and at the Section Base , Boston , through mid - February 1919 , " Adelante " dressed ship on 24 February in honor of the arrival in Boston of President Woodrow Wilson on board the transport " George Washington " , and stood out as part of the veritable armada of ships which proceeded to greet the returning Chief Executive as his ship arrived , appropriately enough , in President Roads . After having returned to Battery Wharf , " Adelante " got underway for Portland , Maine , the following day and arrived at Portland an hour before midnight . The following morning , she moved to Damariscove Island where she helped to establish one of a network of radio compass stations along the Maine coast . Such a system had originally been installed during the war to detect enemy submarines operating off the coast , to " home in " on their radio transmissions and to determine their direction and distance . Wartime experience with those stations showed that the concept held great promise for peacetime use . As Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels reported in 1919 , " The system of radio compasses on shore . . . proved such a useful aid to navigation that during the past year additional stations have been constructed . " " Adelante " continued this work through the end of March , frequenting , besides Damariscove Island , Boothbay and Portland . Working parties , averaging a dozen men , went ashore almost daily to build the station at Damariscove Island , one of the additional 19 stations being added to the original 29 that had been set up on the Atlantic , Pacific , and Gulf coasts . While at Boothbay on the last day of March , she received orders directing her to return to Boston . Underway at 04 : 10 on 1 April , " Adelante " reached Boston at 13 : 45 . After shifting her berth to the opposite side of Boston harbor the next morning , " Adelante " got underway and met the troop transport Mount Vernon as the " boarding boat " for the customs officers . She put these inspectors on board at 13 : 00 and returned with passengers that she disembarked a little over an hour later . " Adelante " temporary duty as " boarding boat " continued through much of April . The ships she met included " Agamemnon " ( Id . No . 3004 ) on the 7th ; Mongolia ( Id . No . 1615 ) on the 10th ; " Patricia " , a transport , on the 17th ; " City of Birmingham " ( also on the 17th ) ; " Winifredia " on the 21st ; " Vedic " and " City of Bombay " on the 22d ; and " New Jersey " ( Battleship No . 16 ) on the 23d . Two events highlighted the period : the first came on 5 April when she carried Major General Edwards , USA , and his staff out to board the incoming transport America in President Roads , the second occurred on 21 April , when Lt . Keith gave a talk on the Liberty Loan drive . He apparently proved persuasive and patriotic , for all hands purchased bonds , making " Adelante " a " 100 percent ship , " enabling her to hoist a " 100 percent pennant " to her foremast signifying the achievement . Her temporary job completed , " Adelante " sailed , on the 24th — via Gloucester , Massachusetts — for Rockland , Maine , which she reached on the 25th to resume her work establishing the compass stations . The ship began work on the station at Cross Island , Northeast Cove , on 28 April , and continued this task until 3 May . She then proceeded , via Rockland , to Boston before returning , via Bar Harbor , to Cross Island on the 6th . Shifting briefly to Machiasport , " Adelante " embarked an inspection party on the 8th to review the status of the work on Cross Island . The party then inspected the station at Damariscove Island the following day ( 9 May ) before " Adelante " set course for Boston to take on construction supplies and stores ( including lumber ) . She subsequently resumed work at Cross Island on 21 May ; based at Machiasport , " Adelante " touched at Cranberry Isles and White - head Island ( 14 June ) to inspect the radio compass station there . Between 13 and 15 June , she also carried Capt . Cantwell , USCG , on an inspection tour of Coast Guard bases in the vicinity . " Adelante " men resumed work at Cross Island on the 23d before the ship visited Mount Desert Island , and then at Machiasport ( 28 – 30 June ) before returning to Cross Island on the 30th . Adelante returned — via Machiasport and Rockland — to Boston which she reached on 3 July . She was decommissioned there on 18 August 1919 . Sold to J . Daniel Gully , of Brooklyn , N . Y . , on 25 March 1920 , " Adelante " was renamed John Gully soon thereafter . In subsequent years , the ship — now classed as a " tow boat " — was renamed Salvager by 1924 and was operated first by the H . J . Wheeler Salvage Co . , Inc . , of New York ( 1924 – 27 ) and then by the Salvage Process Corp . , of New York ( 1927 – 40 ) . By 1 January 1941 , " Salvager " had been abandoned , due to age and deterioration .