USS Margaret ( SP - 527 ) USS " Margaret " ( SP - 527 ) was a yacht acquired by the U . S . Navy during World War I and in commission as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1918 . She was assigned to escort and patrol duty in the North Atlantic Ocean . Unfortunately , she had numerous mechanical problems and her commanding officer - - Lieutenant Commander Frank Jack Fletcher ( 1885 - 1973 ) , a future admiral and aircraft carrier task force commander of World War II fame – did not consider her an effective fighting ship . Fletcher would finally ask the Navy to condemn her as unfit for naval service - something the Navy promptly did . Construction , acquisition , conversion , and commissioning . " Margaret " , was built in 1899 by John Roach & Sons at Chester , Pennsylvania , as the private steam yacht " Eugenia " . She later was renamed " Marjorie " and then " Margaret " . She was not intended for seagoing service , having a quite narrow beam for her length and making her prone to incurring damage in a seaway , and was designed to allow her wealthy owner to entertain people aboard in an opulent setting in a safe harbor . Her final private owner , Isaac Emerson , the chief executive officer of Bromo - Seltzer , ensured that she had a fine wine galley and an exquisite dining area . In August 1917 , the U . S . Navy purchased " Margaret " from Emerson for overseas service as a patrol vessel in World War I , paying $ 104 , 000 USD for her , $ 10 , 000 more than her assessed value of $ 94 , 000 . The yachts fragility had resulted in premature aging and warping of her hull , and she was found to be top - heavy . Nonetheless , she underwent conversion to a patrol vessel . Her impressive wooden civilian masts were replaced by stubbier ones that were more suited to naval service , her dining area was converted into a berthing compartment , and her boom was removed . A chart house , pilot house , and bridge with wings were added , as were two 3 - inch ( 76 . 2 - mm ) guns ( one forward and one aft ) and depth charge racks . After conversion , " Margaret " s top - heaviness had increased , her stern sagged under the weight of the added naval equipment , and she rode so deep in the water that her porthole s were barely above the waterline even when she was in port . She also suffered from numerous leaks . When her first commanding officer , Lieutenant Commander Fletcher , reported aboard , he ordered " Margaret " to undergo post - conversion sea trials . These revealed " Margaret " s top - heaviness , and also showed that she could make no more than 6 knots under ideal conditions and usually no more than 4 knots in a calm sea - too slow to outrun the blast effects of her own depth charges . She rolled heavily , and was prone to engine breakdowns ; her trials began with her losing power in a current and striking a pier , fouling her anchor on it , and ripping her anchor stanchion off . Fletcher assessed that she needed 35 additional tons of ballast , but could find room for no more than five tons . With no experienced officers aboard except Fletcher , USS " Margaret " ( SP - 527 ) was commissioned on 16 October 1917 . During the ceremony , an inexperienced seaman hoisted the United States flag upside down . World War I service . The voyage to Bermuda . On 4 November 1917 , " Margaret " departed the United States on a voyage to the Azores via Bermuda as part of a squadron composed of the patrol vessels ( which served as flagship ) , , , , , and " Margaret " and the supply ship USS " Hannibal " . On the voyage , each of the patrols vessels towed a submarine chaser ; " Margaret " was assigned to tow the submarine chaser " SC - 317 " , which had been transferred to the French Navy , while " SC - 317 " s French crew learned how to operate her . The flotilla suffered many mishaps during the voyage . Not far from port , Fletcher ordered a test - firing of " Margaret " s guns ; the forward gun ' s backrush blew out the forecastle locker door and the after gun blew out the stern rail and opened additional leaks ; Fletcher then ordered the gunnery officer never to fire the guns again . A storm struck on the first night at sea , rendering all but two of the men on board " Margaret " too seasick to carry out their duties , exaggerating the ship ' s leaks , and causing the condenser and steering gear to fail ; as a result , the ship had to be steered manually with ropes attached to her tiller and there was a shortage of potable water that forced Fletcher to ration water strictly . After three days , " Margaret " broke down and was adrift ; " Utowana " was ordered to tow her but also broke down . Although " Margaret " managed to get underway again , she ran out of coal halfway to Bermuda and thus lost all power , lights , pumps , and communications , forcing Fletcher to order a bucket brigade to dump water overboard to keep the ship from capsizing . She rolled heavily , losing her engine room cowl overboard and causing her anchor to give way and run all the way out on 105 fathoms ( 630 feet or 192 meters ) of chain , and her tow line to " SC - 317 " parted . The donkey engine broke , and the crew had to haul in both the anchor chain and the tow line manually . The flotilla finally arrived at Hamilton , Bermuda , on 9 November 1917 . When " Margaret " s dory was sent for caulk ing material ashore , it broke down and had to towed in . " Margaret " s low priority for logistical support meant that her crew had a very hard time getting anything there that they needed for repairs . The voyage to the Azores . " Margaret " departed Bermuda on 18 November 1917 , bound for the Azores in company with " May " , " Hannibal " , " Wenonah " , " Rambler " , and the patrol vessels , , and , and the six submarine chasers that had been towed on the previous voyage . Fletcher had arranged for two piles of soft coal to be dumped on " Margaret " s deck for the voyage to avoid again running out of coal , as well as lumber for repairs , and the crew filled lifeboat s and bathtub s with potable water . All this served to make " Margaret " even more top - heavy . During the voyage , " May " spotted an enemy steamer ; the flotilla gave chase , but was so slow that the steamer simply turned away and outran it . Later , " SC - 317 " signalled for help ; she had broken down , and after " May " and " Wenonah " retrieved her , " Margaret " again took " SC - 317 " under tow - but " Margaret " again ran out of coal and " Cythera " had to tow " Margaret " . The eventful voyage also saw many alarms over false sightings of what were thought to be enemy submarine s and torpedo es . By the time the voyage concluded at Horta in the Azores on 5 December 1918 , half of the flotillas ships were under tow by the other half . Operations in the Azores . In the Azores , Fletcher found it as hard to procure supplies and spare parts for " Margaret " as he had at Bermuda . A hurricane struck , and " Margaret " and the other patrol vessels began dragging their anchors ; one of them collided with " Margaret " , and " Margaret " eventually had to secure herself to a mooring buoy . After a German submarine sank a Portuguese barkentine near the Azores , " Margaret " was sent out to find the submarine . She found nothing . After " Margaret " returned to port , the submarines commanding officer broadcast a radio message in the clear saying that he had sighted " Margaret " but had not bothered to attack her because she was not worth the cost of a torpedo . Fletcher eventually prevailed in getting a survey made of " Margaret " to assess her condition . The survey , conducted in the Azores , found that her deck leaked , her condenser was irreparable , her steam drums were badly worn down and could generate less than half the steam pressure they were supposed to , her crew quarters were uninhabitable , and living conditions were very bad . The Commander , Azores Detachment , A . W . Osteshans , judged " Margaret " as unsuited for further service as a patrol vessel and as " nothing more than a piece of junk . " After that , " Margaret " was no longer issued orders to put to sea , and instead served as accommodation for her crew and as a storage vessel . During this period , a Gunner ' s Mate Davis , serving as petty officer of the watch aboard " Margaret " , heard cries for help from the harbor and dived in to rescue a man who had attempted to swim from another boat to shore and became fatigued . Davis received a letter of commendation for his action . After Fletcher was ordered to another ship , " Margaret " s succeeding commanding officers stayed aboard only a few weeks each before also moving on . Her final commanding officer was her senior enlisted man , after which all of her crew were transferred elsewhere . Decommissioning and disposal . " Margaret " remained in the Azores for the rest of World War I . She returned to the United States following the 11 November 1918 Armistice with Germany and was decommissioned that month . She was sold to an Italian firm for scrap for on 30 September 1921 . Further reading . A humorous account of the misadventures of USS " Margaret " and her crew , " Maggie of the Suicide Fleet " by Prosper Buranelli , was published by Doubleday , Doran & Co . in 1930 . The February 2011 issue of " Naval History " magazine includes an article , " When Frank Jack Met " Maggie " , " by Steven D . Regan , about Fletchers tour as commanding officer of " Margaret " .