Completed 1913 Commissioned late July 1917 Length 21 m | Acquired 15 June 1917 Renamed USS SP-256 April 1918 | |
 | ||
Name USS Chipper (1917-1918)
USS SP-256 (1918) Namesake Chipper was her previous name retained
SP-256 was her section patrol number Builder New York Yacht, Launch and Engine Company | ||
The first USS Chipper (SP-256), later USS SP-256, was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1918.
Chipper was built as a civilian motorboat of the same name in 1913 by the New York Yacht, Launch and Engine Company at Morris Heights in the Bronx, New York. The U.S. Navy leased her on 15 June 1917 from her owner, C. Wetherill of Erika, Virginia, for World War I service as a patrol vessel. She was commissioned about six weeks later, in late July 1917, as USS Chipper (SP-256).
Chipper spent the rest of World War I on section patrol duty along the United States East Coast. She was renamed USS SP-256 in April 1918.
SP-256 was returned to Wetherill on 4 December 1918.
Chipper should not be confused with another patrol vessel and ferryboat, USS Chipper (SP-1049), which also was in commission in the U.S. Navy during World War I.