USS Mizpah ( PY - 29 ) The USS Mizpah ( PY - 29 ) was a United States Navy vessel . History . This ship was laid down in 1926 from the parts of an abandoned new destroyer as the pleasure yacht " Savanarola " by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Newport News , Virginia , for Mrs . Richard M . Cadwalader of Fort Washington , Pennsylvania . It was acquired in 1927 by Mrs . Cadwalader ' s son , Mr . Richard M . Cadwalader , Jr . , also of Fort Washington , and renamed the " Sequoia " . In 1929 it was sold to Eugene F . McDonald of Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , founder and president of the Zenith Radio Corporation , who renamed it the " Allegro " and used it both as a Chicago residence and a floating laboratory on which to test the electronics company ' s new products . One of the largest yachts on the Great Lakes in its heyday , the ship was renamed the " Mizpah " in 1929 . Only a year after commissioning the construction of the " Mizpah " , the Cadwaladers built a smaller ship , the " USS Sequoia II " , a 104 - foot pleasure yacht that was subsequently purchased by the U . S . government and named the USS Sequoia for use by U . S . presidents . Numerous significant historical events took place on the " Sequoia " between the presidential administrations of Franklin D . Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan . Acquisition and conversion by the U . S . Navy . The " Mizpah " was acquired by the United States Navy on 16 March 1942 and converted to a warship at Sturgeon Bay Shipbuilding Company , Sturgeon Bay , Wisconsin , with Lt . Stephen M . Etnier , USNR , in command . It was commissioned the " Patrol Yacht USS Mizpah ( PY - 29 ) " on 26 October 1942 . After leaving Sturgeon Bay on 16 November 1942 , " Mizpah " served as a convoy escort along the eastern coast of the United States , sailing between New York City and Key West , Florida , until July 1944 . In this way , " Mizpah " made a contribution to the war effort by freeing larger , more heavily armed escorts to protect transatlantic shipping lanes . Serves as training school . From August 1944 until April 1945 , " Mizpah " served as a navigation school ship from the Amphibious Training Base at Little Creek , Virginia , training prospective ship captains and executive officers to sail newly constructed , amphibious vessels in the Chesapeake Bay region . Conversion to flagship , Destroyer Force , Atlantic Fleet . Converted at Boston , Massachusetts , for duty as a flagship , Destroyer Force , Atlantic Fleet , " Mizpah " broke the flag of Rear Admiral O . M . Hustvedt at Portland , Maine , on 28 May 1945 . Hustvedt was succeeded by Rear Admiral Frank E . Beatty , Jr . , on 4 September 1945 . Decommissioning . " Mizpah " arrived in Charleston , South Carolina , with Admiral Beatty on 10 December 1945 under the command of Lt . ( j . g . ) D . Dudley Bloom . It was decommissioned on 16 January 1946 and transferred to the United States War Shipping Administration ( WSA ) on 25 September 1946 for disposal . Final years . The WSA then sold her to a private corporation for transporting bananas out of South America . In 1967 , the ship suffered a broken crankshaft and was laid up for repair at Tampa , Florida . At that time , Eugene Kinney , McDonald ' s nephew and Zenith Corporation vice president who had grown up on the " Mizpah " and served as a naval officer in the South Pacific during World War II , learned of her plight and purchased her . Finding " Mizpah " ' s crankshaft irreparably damaged , however , Kinney scuttled her off the coast of Palm Beach , Florida , on 9 April 1968 , along with another ship , the " USS PC - 1174 " , to serve as an artificial reef to prevent beach erosion . Sitting in ninety - five feet of water with her hatches purposely removed to enhance her accessibility , " Mizpah " is now one of the chief attractions of an offshore scuba diver ' s area known as " The Mizpah Corridor " .