USS Venetia ( SP - 431 ) USS " Venetia " ( SP - 431 ) was a large 589 gross ton steam yacht leased by the U . S . Navy during World War I . She was heavily armed with for guns and depth charge s , and was assigned duties of a patrol craft , escorting ships in convoy on the North Atlantic Ocean , and protecting those ships from German submarine attack . " Venetia " was awarded a " star of reward " for her antisubmarine work , and mounted the star on her stack . Post - war she was restored to her original civilian configuration , and was returned to her owner . A yacht built in Scotland . " Venetia " — a single - screw , steel - hulled steam yacht built in 1904 at Leith , Scotland , by Hawthorne and Commpany to plans drawn up by the designers Cox and King — was acquired by the U . S . Navy on 4 August 1917 from industrialist John Diedrich Spreckles for use as a patrol craft . Designated SP - 431 and fitted out at the Mare Island Navy Yard , Vallejo , California , " Venetia " was commissioned at Mare Island on 15 October 1917 , Comdr . Lewis B . Porterfield in command . World War I service . Transit to the Atlantic Ocean . The converted yacht departed Mare Island on 23 October , transited the Panama Canal on 6 November , and reached Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , on 15 November . The ship underwent alterations at the Philadelphia Navy Yard — including the installation of new radio equipment — before she sailed for New York City on 3 December . Following minor repairs at the New York Navy Yard from 4 to 15 December , " Venetia " returned to Philadelphia . First transatlantic passage . Four days before Christmas , " Venetia " sailed for European waters with " SC - 67 " ( allocated to the French Navy ) in tow and in company with the converted yacht which , in turn , had the French " SC - 173 " in tow . The next day , they rendezvoused with , , and off the Delaware Bay breakwater and headed for Bermuda where they arrived on the 26th and remained into the new year , 1918 . The group got underway on the next leg of the transatlantic passage on 7 January and reached the Azores on the 23d . " Venetia " subsequently spent five days at sea , searching for a French subchaser ( " SC - 319 " ) which had been separated from the convoy . The yacht eventually departed Ponta Delgada on 8 February in company with and — each ship towing a French subchaser . Arriving at Port Leixos , Portugal , on the 13th , " Venetia " got underway again five days later , with the French " SC - 172 " in tow , and arrived at Gibraltar on the 18th . While undergoing voyage repairs , " Venetia " received a new depth charge rack and releasing gear . Thus outfitted , " Venetia " sailed on 2 March 1918 in the screen for a 28 - ship convoy , bound for Bizerte , Tunisia . Other escorts sharing the mission included , , and the French trawler " Isole " . Six days later , " Venetia " got underway back toward Gibraltar , escorting eight vessels , and returned to her home port on 12 March . Based at Gibraltar , the ship performed similar convoy escort missions in the Mediterranean for the duration of hostilities . Attacking German submarine " UB - 52 " . Her first contact with the enemy came that spring . On 11 May 1918 , " Venetia " was steaming off the port quarter of a convoy bound for Gibraltar , when a torpedo streaked past her bow , some 150 to ahead . Lookouts on the armed yacht then sighted " a large amount of water " spouting into the air over the bow of " SS Susette Fraisinette " , a French steamship about away . The merchantman had been torpedoed by " UB - 52 " and later sank at 0412 . While the French trawler " Isole " picked up 34 survivors from " Susette Fraisinette " , " Venetia " cruised in widening circles until 0520 , carrying out a sector search for the offending U - boat . At 0527 , the yacht ' s maintop lookout sighted " UB - 52 " eight or nine miles ( 14 km ) away , standing well off the convoy ' s track and on a course between west and southwest . " Venetia " , at general quarters , headed for " UB - 52 " at full speed , keeping the submarine bearing one point to starboard , at intervals , as the submarine continued standing off to westward . Soon , the yacht gained perceptibility , and the U - boat came into better view . Her periscope s were down , and lookouts in the yacht noted that the enemy submersible mounted a single gun ( a weapon ) forward of the small conning tower . The fact that the German ' s bow seemed " unusually high " out of the water — coupled with the fact that there was " no perceptible bow - wave " — led Comdr . Porterfield to hope that either the enemy ' s diving apparatus was disabled " . . . or that he decided to shoot it out . " As " Venetia " bore down on " UB - 52 " , Porterfield laid out his battle plan : keep the U - boat one point on the starboard bow , open up with gunfire at about , machine guns at 2 , 000 , " and finish by ramming him at full speed . " Unfortunately , the U - boat ' s commander , Oberleutnant zur See Launburg , saw " Venetia ' s " approach and ordered his ship to dive . Porter - field took " Venetia " over where the U - boat had just " pulled the plug " and initiated a search . " Venetia " steamed in the vicinity , within a five - mile ( 8 km ) circle , probing until 0738 . During that time , she dropped 13 depth bombs and subsequently set a course to keep the enemy from making further attacks on the convoy . Twelve days later , " UB - 52 " met her doom in the Adriatic at the hands of the British submarine HMS " H - 4 " . Survivors from the U - boat reported that " Venetia ' s " efforts had not only prevented further attacks on the convoy but had driven " UB - 52 " off . Since Porterfield ' s action in doggedly pursuing the U - boat had aided substantially in saving the convoy , he received commendations from the British Senior Naval Officer , Gibraltar ; from Commander in Chief , Mediterranean ; and from the American Patrol Force commander , Rear Admiral Wilson . Attacking German submarine " UB - 39 " . Back at sea with a convoy outward bound from Gibraltar soon thereafter , " Venetia ' s " next encounter with the enemy came within a week of her brush with " UB - 52 " . Just before nightfall on 17 May , the armed yacht was steaming on an irregular zig - zag pattern when the British steamship SS " Sculptor " took a torpedo from " UB - 39 " . " Venetia " , two and one - half to three points abaft the beam of the stricken merchantman and away , simultaneously sounded general quarters and rang down emergency full speed ahead . As the yacht passed astern of " Sculptor " , Porterfield assumed that , after making her attack , the submarine had turned aft on the starboard side of the convoy . " Venetia " consequently dropped 300 - pound depth charge s set at depth , between 1901 and 1902 . At that point , the yacht ' s foretop lookout reported that he could see the wake of a submarine moving through the water . Ensign Willis L . DeCamp took station in the foretop and confirmed the lookout ' s report . " Venetia " altered course and dropped depth charges ahead of the wake at 1906 , 1908 , 1909 , 1911 , and 1913 . Meanwhile " Surveyor " stood by the damaged merchantman , and Venetia radioed Oran to send a tug . ( Gunboat No . 14 ) assisted in the attack , dropping seven depth charges ; " Venetia " subsequently stood by " Sculptor " with orders to get her underway , if possible , in tow , and circled the crippled ship at 12 knots ( 22 km / h ) . By this time , British trawler " Corvi " , French trawler " Isole " , and French subchaser s " SC - 171 " and " SC - 350 " picked up survivors and were standing by . " Venetia " then ordered " Isole " to rejoin the convoy . However , the escorts were not nearly as successful driving away the attacker this time . Twice more , " U - 39 " closed the convoy , sinking British steamer SS " Mavisbrook " at 2028 and then damaging SS " Elswick Grange " at 2320 . The latter eventually reached port under tow . Searching for another attacking U - boat . " Venetia ' s " next encounter with the enemy came less than two months later . On 20 July , the warship departed Gibraltar , bound for Genoa , Italy , as part of the screen for a convoy of 17 ships . Her fellow escorts were British trawler " Kodama " , British sloop " Narcissus " , Italian trawler " Porto Torres " , and American converted yacht . Three days into the voyage , an enemy submarine , lurking nearby , torpedoed the British merchantman " SS Messidor " at 1924 . At that time , " Venetia " was steaming at 11 knots ( 20 km / h ) some astern and was zigzagging to starboard of the convoy . Hearing the explosion , " Venetia " went to full speed and headed toward the front of the convoy . Between 1926 and 2000 , she searched for the U - boat and dropped two British and 11 American depth charges . During that time , the ship once sighted a suspicious wake on the starboard bow . " Venetia " came hard right but , upon investigation , decided that the wake had not been made by either a submarine or a torpedo . While the yacht continued searching for the submarine , she kept within sight of the sinking " Messidor " which her crewmen could see plainly in the moonlight . At 2025 , the patrol craft passed within hailing distance of " Kodama " which was busy picking up survivors , asking for a count on the survivors and the missing . " Kodama " replied that she had not finished counting ; after telling the trawler to steam in a circle and continue counting until totals had been reached , " Venetia " continued the search for the U - boat . " Venetia " neared " Kodama " again shortly under an hour later , and ascertained the count of survivors to be 33 , with one man missing . Porterfield — not at all certain that " Messidor " would sink — wondered if he should not retain " Messidor ' s " officers to accompany the steamer to port in case she could be towed in . He prepared a wireless message to Algiers asking for a tug and escort to either Algiers or Bougie , and stating that he would stand by " Messidor " until 0500 the next morning . However , all of his speculations were soon rendered academic , as " Messidor " began listing rapidly to starboard at 2230 . Ten minutes later , the freighter rolled over and sank . " Venetia " then headed northward to catch up with the convoy and joined at 0746 on 24 July ; two days later , the convoy arrived at Genoa without further incident . Continued convoy escort duty . " Venetia " returned to Gibraltar with a 20 - ship convoy on 1 August after an uneventful passage . The next day , Comdr . Porterfield was relieved by Capt . C . F . Howell , USCG , as commanding officer . On the 16th of that month , the armed yacht began a refit and overhaul at Gibraltar , entering drydock on the 26th for hull repairs . " Venetia " put to sea on 14 September with an 11 - ship convoy and arrived at Genoa six days later . She returned to her home base on 26 September , convoying 19 ships safely to port . " Venetia " subsequently conducted two more round - trip convoy escort voyages — one to Genoa and one to Bizerte — before she departed Gibraltar on 6 November , bound for Madeira , in company with " Surveyor " . The ships arrived at Funchal , Madeira , on the 9th , and " Venetia " departed on the 11th , the day that the armistice was signed at Compiègne , France , ending World War I . The armed yacht made arrival at Ponta Delgada , in the Azores , on the 13th , en route to Gibraltar , which she reached on the 19th . Post - war operations . During her last month in European waters , " Venetia " made a round - trip voyage to Portugal before sailing for the United States on 21 December , towing " SC - 223 " , as part of a homeward - bound subchaser detachment built around the tender " Hannibal " . Later towing " SC - 330 " , the yacht reached Ponta Delgada on the day after Christmas . Subsequently touching at St . Thomas , Virgin Islands ; Santo Domingo , Dominican Republic ; and Port - au - Prince , Haiti , " Venetia " arrived at Guantanamo Bay on 31 January 1919 . Post - war disposition . She transited the Panama Canal on 3 February and reached San Francisco on the 20th . One week later , on 27 February 1919 , " Venetia " shifted to the Mare Island Navy Yard where she was decommissioned , and all of her military fittings were removed . She was returned to her owner on 4 April 1919 . Continued maritime service . " Venetia " remained under the ownership of the entrepreneur John D . Spreckles until his death in June 1926 . The graceful yacht was then sold to James Playfair , who owned the ship from 1928 to 1939 . The ownership of the erstwhile convoy escort and patrol craft changed hands again in 1940 , when R . S . Misener acquired the ship . After some 65 years in operation — the latter years on the Great Lakes — she disappeared from the Lloyd ' s Register of Yachts in 1968 .