USC&GS Elsie III (1912)

USS Elsie III (foreground) at Lockwood's Basin in Boston, Massachusetts, during World War I. Behind her is the patrol vessel USS Lynx II (SP-730).
History
United States
Name:	USS Elsie III (SP-708)
Namesake:	Previous name retained
Completed:	1912
Acquired:	1917
Commissioned:	30 June 1917
Fate:	Transferred to United States Coast and Geodetic Survey 21 April 1919
Notes:	Operated as civilian motorboat Elsie III 1912-1917
United States
Name:	USC&GS Elsie III
Namesake:	Previous name retained
Acquired:	21 April 1919
Decommissioned:	1944
General characteristics (patrol vessel)
Type:	Patrol vessel
Tonnage:	23 tons
Length:	52 ft (16 m)
Beam:	11 ft 6 in (3.51 m)
Draft:	4 ft (1.2 m)
Propulsion:	Gasoline engine
Complement:	10
Armament:	None

USS Elsie III (SP-708) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919 that saw service during World War I. After the completion of her U.S. Navy career, she was in commission in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey as the survey launch USC&GS Elsie III from 1919 to 1944.

Elsie III was built as a civilian motorboat of the same name in 1912 at Morris Heights in the Bronx, New York. The U.S. Navy purchased her from her owner in 1917 for World War I service as a patrol vessel. She was commissioned on 30 June 1917 as USS Elsie III (SP-708).

Assigned to the 1st Naval District for section patrol duties and based at Boston, Massachusetts, Elsie III operated in the vicinity of Boston for the rest of World War I on patrol, despatch, guard, towing, and transport duties.

The U.S. Navy transferred Elsie III to the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey on 21 April 1919. Commissioned into the Survey as the survey launch USC&GS Elsie III, she served along the United States East Coast during her career with the Survey.

Between 4 September and 12 September 1935, Elsie III joined the Coast and Geodetic Survey launch USC&GS Marindin in helping with relief efforts in the Florida Keys following the passage of the violent 1935 Labor Day hurricane.