| Alabama -- a 69-foot motorboat built in
1906 at South Boston, Massachusetts, by George Lawley and Sons -- was inspected
by the Navy in the summer of 1917. Records indicate that on 25 July 1917
the Navy concluded an agreement with her owners, the American and British
Manufacturing Co., Bridgeport, Connecticut, for possible future acquisition
of the boat. By the terms of that agreement, Alabama -- assigned the
designation SP-1052 -- was "enrolled in the Naval Coast Defense Reserve."
All indications are, however, that Alabama never saw actual naval
service, possibly remaining "enrolled" in a reserve capacity, since she does
not appear on contemporary lists of commandeered, chartered, or leased small
craft actually used by the Navy during World War I. |
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