Name USS Manatee Completed 1915 Commissioned 23 April 1917 Length 11 m | Namesake Previous name retained Acquired 21 April 1917 Struck By 1 July 1920 Builder Brown Brothers Shipyard | |
The first USS Manatee (SP-51) was an armed motorboat that served as a United States Navy patrol vessel from 1917 until sometime shortly after World War I.
Manatee was built in 1915 as a wooden-hulled, gasoline-powered private motorboat of the same name by Brown Brothers Shipyard at Tottenville on Staten Island, New York. The U.S. Navy acquired her for World War I service from her owner, J. B. Fallon, on 21 April 1917, and commissioned her as patrol boat USS Manatee (SP-51) on 23 April 1917.
Manatee was assigned to "distant service" in European waters, where she supported a flying boat detachment through the end of World War I.
Records of Manatee's status after the Armistice with Germany of 11 November 1918 are lacking, but she presumably returned to the United States for decommissioning and disposal. As of 1 July 1920 her name no longer appeared on the Navy List.