USS Small IX: Naval Academy Yachts

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USS Vamarie (IX-47) circa June 1939.
Click on this photograph for links to larger images of this class.

Class:        Small IX: Naval Academy Yachts
Design        Small acquired. These specifications are for IX-43.
Displacement (tons):        60 light, 72 gross
Dimensions (feet):        88.7' oa, 66.5' wl x 20.0' x 10.0'
Original Armament:        None
Later armaments:        --
Complement        --
Speed (kts.):
Propulsion (HP):        175
Machinery:        Hall-Scott gas engine

Construction:

IX	Name	Acq.	Builder	Keel	Launch	Commiss.
43	FREEDOM	10 Sep 40	Great Lakes Boat Bldg	--	1931	--
47	VAMARIE	11 Nov 36	Abeking & Rasmussen	--	1933	--
48	HIGHLAND LIGHT	26 Oct 40	George S. Lawley & Sons	--	1931	28 Oct 40
49	SPINDRIFT	26 Oct 40	F. F. Pendleton	--	1928	26 Oct 40

Disposition:

IX	Name	Decomm.	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
43	FREEDOM	--	1 Apr 68	12 Aug 68	Sold	--
47	VAMARIE	--	22 Jun 55	Dec 55	Dest	--
48	HIGHLAND LIGHT	1965	1 Apr 65	--	Unk.	--
49	SPINDRIFT	--	22 Dec 52	18 Aug 53	Sold	--

Class Notes:
FY 1942 BuShips Maintenance funds (IX 48-49). Specifications above are for IX-43, those for others are in the Ship Notes.

IX-43: An Act of Congress of 6 Jun 40 authorized the Secretary of the Navy to accept without expense to the Government the 88-foot 2-masted schooner FREEDOM and her equipment as a gift from her owner, Sterling Morton, to the Naval Academy. She had been designed by John G. Alden and built at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The yacht was delivered to the Navy on 10 Sep 40 at the shipyard of Henry B. Nevins, City Island, New York and arrived at the Naval Academy two days later. On 24 Oct 40 CNO assigned her the class designation "Unclassified" and directed that her name be retained. On 8 Jan 41 SecNav approved the adoption by BuShips of the symbol IX, already in use in the Navy Filing Manual, for vessels designated "Unclassified," and BuShips assigned her the hull designation IX-43. She proved to be an excellent boat for ocean cruising and for teaching midshipmen how to handle a large sailing rig. She was sold in 1968 following the investigation of the faltering sailing program at the Naval Academy by the Fales Committee in the mid-1960s. Purchased by the Harry Lundeberg School of Seamanship in Annapolis, Md., she became the miscellaneous function (training) vessel FREEDOM and was still in service in 1972.

IX-47: The 72-foot main trysail ketch VAMARIE was presented to the Naval Academy by Vadim S. Makaroff and accepted 11 (1?) Nov 36. She had been designed by Jasper Morgan of Cox & Stephens, built in 1933 by Rasmussen in Lemwerder (Bremen), Germany, and named for Vadim and his wife Marie. Her original auxiliary power plant consisted of a wooden airplane propeller swung on a hub on the mizzenmast and connected by V-belts to a gasoline engine mounted on deck. (The Navy later fitted a conventional screw propeller.) The yacht was listed by BuShips as an unnumbered District Craft - Unclassified (YX) and was numbered YX-23 in the Navy Filing Manual. On 30 Jan 41 BuShips recommended that the craft carried on the Navy List as YX be combined with those classified IX, and on 8 Mar 41 the yacht received the hull designation IX-47. She was lost in Hurricane Hazel on 15 Oct 54 when her moorings in Annapolis harbor parted and she was pounded against a quaywall a quarter of a mile to leeward. The damaged wreck was raised in November 1954, declared excess on 24 Feb 55, and demolished by 31 Jan 56.

IX-48: The Naval Academy took possession of the 68-foot sloop HIGHLAND LIGHT on 19 Oct 40 as a donation from the estate of Dudley F. Wolfe, who had died trying to climb Mount K-2 in the Himalayas. She had been designed by Paine, Belknap & Skene and built in 1931 by George Lawley & Son of Neponset, Mass. The yacht arrived at the Academy on 26 Oct 40. On 17 Mar 41 CNO recommended that she be designated "Unclassified" and retain her name. On 10 May 41 BuShips assigned the symbol IX-48 to the vessel. She became the Academy's leading racing yacht and participated in ten Newport to Bermuda races between 1946 and 1964, by which time she was thoroughly outclassed by newer yachts. She was sold in 1968 following the investigation of the faltering sailing program at the Naval Academy by the Fales Committee in the mid-1960s. Purchased by Anthony O. Mignano of Los Angeles, she became the passenger craft HIGHLAND LIGHT and was still in service in 1972.

IX-49: On 23 Oct 40 SecNav authorized the purchase of the 55-foot cutter SPINDRIFT for the sum of $1.00 as a gift to the Naval Academy from Wallace W. Lanahan. The yacht had been designed by John G. Alden and built at Wiscasset, Maine, as a sloop; she was altered to a cutter in 1937. She was turned over to the Academy on 26 Oct 40. On 28 Mar 41 CNO directed she be classified IX and that her name be retained. On 10 May 41 BuShips assigned the symbol IX-49 to her. Used as a training craft, she later served at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station. Sold in 1953, she was not registered for further service as an American yacht.

Ship Notes:

IX	Name	Notes
43	FREEDOM	Ex yacht FREEDOM. Auxiliary 2-masted schooner. Specifications above. Wood hull.
47	VAMARIE	Ex yacht VAMARIE. Auxiliary main trysail ketch. 80 tons light, 35 tons gross. 70.2' oa, 54.0' wl x 15.25' x 10.3'. Composite hull. Lehman gas engine, 85 HP. Original filing symbol YX-23.
48	HIGHLAND LIGHT	Ex yacht HIGHLAND LIGHT. Auxiliary sloop. 32 tons gross. 68.6' oa, 50.0' wl x 15.3' x 9.25'. Wood hull. Universal Cruiser gas engine (fitted 1936), 65 HP. Built at Boston.
49	SPINDRIFT	Ex yacht SPINDRIFT. Auxiliary cutter. 17 tons gross. 54.75' oa, 37.9' wl x 12.4' x 7.25'. Wood hull. Gray gas engine (fitted 1937), 83 HP. Delivered to buyer 30 Aug 53.