Name USS Hobo II Completed 1905 Commissioned 24 August 1917 Builder Electric Launch Company | Namesake Previous name retained Acquired 23 June 1917 Length 23 m | |
Fate Returned to owner 17 February 1919 | ||
USS Hobo II (SP-783) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.
Hobo II was built in 1905 as a private motorboat of the same name by the Electric Launch Company (ELCO) at Bayonne, New Jersey. On 23 June 1917, the U.S. Navy acquired her from her owner, J. S. Melcher of New York City, for use as a section patrol boat during World War I. She was commissioned at Boston, Massachusetts, as USS Hobo II (SP-783) on 24 August 1917 with Boatswain's Mate G. R. Hadlock in command.
Assigned to the 1st Naval District in northern New England, Hobo II initially was based at Bar Harbor, Maine, where she operated on harbor patrol duties. On 21 January 1918 she was transferred to Boston, where she performed dispatch boat and general patrol duties for the rest of World War I and into 1919.
Hobo II was returned to Melcher on 17 February 1919.