View source for USS Cythera (PY-26)

{{Short description|United States Navy patrol vessel}}
{{other ships|USS Cythera}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
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{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=USSCytheraPY26.jpg
|Ship caption=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=title
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United States|1912}}
|Ship name=''Agawa''
|Ship class=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship awarded=
|Ship builder=[[Ramage & Ferguson|Ramage and Ferguson, Ltd.]], [[Leith]],&nbsp;[[Scotland]]
|Ship operator=[[William L. Harkness]]
|Ship launched=20 September 1906 
|Ship christened=
|Ship fate=Leased to U.S. Navy 1917
|Ship struck=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=title
|Ship country=
|Ship flag={{navy|United States|1912}}
|Ship name=USS Cythera (SP-575)
|Ship namesake=
|Ship acquired=1917
|Ship commissioned=20 October 1917
|Ship decommissioned=17 March 1919
|Ship fate=Returned to owner 19&nbsp;March&nbsp;1919
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=title
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United States|1912}}
|Ship name=''Cythera''
|Ship operator=William L. Harkness
|Ship acquired=Returned by U.S. Navy 19&nbsp;March&nbsp;1919 
|Ship fate=Acquired by U.S. Navy 31&nbsp;December&nbsp;1941
|Ship struck=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=title
|Ship country=
|Ship name=USS ''Cythera'' (PY-26)
|Ship flag={{navy|United States|1912}} 
|Ship acquired=31 December 1941
|Ship commissioned=3 March 1942
|Ship decommissioned=
|Ship fate=Sunk 2 May 1942
|Ship struck=24 June 1942
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=title
|Header caption=<br>as U.S. Navy vessel
|Ship displacement=1,000 [[Displacement ton|tons]]
|Ship length={{convert|215|ft|1}}
|Ship beam={{convert|27|ft|6|in|1}}
|Ship draught=
|Ship draft={{convert|12|ft}}
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|Ship speed={{convert|12|kn|mph km/h|lk=in}}
|Ship range=
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|Ship complement=113
|Ship armament=3 x {{convert|3|in|mm|1|adj=on}} [[gun mount]]s
|Ship motto=
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The first '''USS ''Cythera'' (SP-575/PY-26)''' was a [[United States Navy]] [[patrol vessel]] that saw service in the [[Atlantic Ocean]] during both [[World War I]] and [[World War II]].

==History==
The vessel was constructed in [[Leith]], [[Scotland]], originally [[Keel-laying|laid down]] as the civilian [[yacht]] ''Agawa'' for [[William L. Harkness]] and [[Ceremonial ship launching|launched]] on 20 September 1906.

===World War I===

The [[United States Navy]] leased the vessel from Harkness in 1917 for [[World War I]] service in the [[section patrol]]. She was [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] as USS ''Cythera'' (SP-575) on 20 October 1917. Departing [[New York City]] on 27 October 1917, ''Cythera'' arrived at [[Newport, Rhode Island|Newport]], [[Rhode Island]], on 28 October 1917 and was assigned to Patrol Force, [[United States Atlantic Fleet]]. She departed Newport on 1 November 1917 with her [[Squadron (naval)|squadron]], and escorted and [[Towing|towed]] [[submarine chaser]]s to [[Europe]]an waters before arriving at [[Gibraltar]] on 29 December 1917. Based at Gibraltar, she patrolled and escorted [[convoy]]s between Gibraltar and [[Mediterranean]] ports in [[France]], [[Italy]], and [[North Africa]]. She was [[Ship decommissioning|decommissioned]] on 17 March 1919 and returned to Harkness on 21 March 1919.

===World War II===

After ''Cythera'' served as a civilian vessel for more than two decades, the U.S. Navy reacquired her from Harkness's widow Edith on 31 December 1941 for [[World War II]] service. She was classified as a [[patrol yacht]] and given the [[Hullclassification symbol|hull number]] PY-26. Her conversion into a patrol vessel was completed on 28 February 1942, and she was placed in service on 3 March 1942. On 2 May 1942, while escorting the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[Tanker (ship)|tanker]] {{SS|Ashkhabad}}, she was [[torpedo]]ed and sunk by the [[Nazi Germany|German]] [[submarine]] {{GS|U-402||2}} in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of [[North Carolina]].<ref>Blair 1996, p. 544.</ref> Of the 71 crewmen on board ''Cythera'' at the time, only two survived. They were picked up by ''U-402'' and made [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]].

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c16/cythera-i.htm }}
* {{cite book| title=Hitler's U-Boat War – The Hunters 1939–1942 |author=Blair, Clay |publisher=Random House |year=1996 |isbn=0-394-58839-8}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/170575.htm    navsource.org: USS ''Cythera'']
* [http://hazegray.org/danfs/patrol/cythera.htm         hazegray.org: USS ''Cythera'']

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{{May 1942 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cythera (PY-26)}}
[[Category:World War I patrol vessels of the United States]]
[[Category:World War II patrol vessels of the United States]]
[[Category:Ships built in Leith]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the Carolina coast]]
[[Category:1906 ships]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in May 1942]]
[[Category:Ships sunk by German submarines in World War II]]