USS Carola IV, was a patrol ship of the United States Navy, built in 1885 by Culzean Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Maidens, South Ayrshire, Scotland, as the steam yacht Black Pearl. She was built for the Earl of Pembroke & Montgomery. In 1895 the yacht was sold to E B Sheldon of Chicago, Illinois, USA.[1] and in 1900 she was purchased by Evans R Dick of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and renamed Elsa.[2][3] She was later briefly named Haida and Columbine, but by mid-1910 was owned by Leonard Richards of New York City, Commodore of the Larchmont Yacht Club.[1][4]

USS Carola IV off New York, 1917
History
United States
NameUSS Carola IV
BuilderCulzean Shipbuilding & Engineering Co, Maidens
Launched1885
AcquiredJune 1917
CommissionedJuly 1917
DecommissionedDecember 1919
FateSold
General characteristics
Tonnage240 GRT, 145 NRT
Length144.05 ft (43.91 m)
Beam23.15 ft (7.06 m)
Depth13.15 ft (4.01 m)
Installed power110 NHP
Propulsion
Speed10 kn (19 km/h)
Complement68
Armament2 x 3-inch (76 mm) guns

In June 1917, she was purchased by the US Navy for World War I service. Commissioned in early July, she crossed the Atlantic to Brest, France, during that month and the next, voyaging by way of Dominion of Newfoundland and the Azores. After a brief patrol operation along the French coast, in October 1917 Carola IV was condemned as unseaworthy and reduced to harbor service as an accommodation vessel.[5] She was employed in that capacity through the end of the Great War and for a year beyond. Carola IV was decommissioned in late December 1919.[6] The vessel was sold to a local Brest buyer.[7]

The ship was broken up in 1957.[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Black Pearl". Scottish Built Ships. Caledonian Maritime Research Trust. Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  2. ^ "Yachts Change Hands". The Sun. No. LXVII, 195. New York, NY. 14 March 1900. p. 5. Retrieved 8 April 2022 – via Library of Congress.
  3. ^ Yacht Register. London: Lloyd's Register of British & Foreign Shipping. 1901–1902. p. 288.
  4. ^ "Yachting: Larchmont Y. C." Forest & Stream. No. LXXV, 1. New York, NY. 9 July 1910. p. 61. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  5. ^ Williams, Greg H. (2017). The United States Merchant Marine in World War I : ships, crews, shipbuilders and operators. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. 111. ISBN 9781476626727. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  6. ^ "Carola IV". DANFS. Naval History and Heritage Command, US Navy. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  7. ^ a b "Carola IV (SP 812)". NavSource Online. NavSource Naval History. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2022.