USCGC Seneca, or before 1915 USRC Seneca, was a United States Coast Guard cutter built and commissioned as a "derelict destroyer" with the specific mission of locating and then destroying abandoned shipwrecks that were still afloat and were a menace to navigation. She was designed with excellent sea-keeping qualities, a long cruising range, good towing capabilities, and by necessity the capacity to store a large amount of munitions.Larzelere, p 12 She was one of five Coast Guard cutters serving with the U.S. Navy in European waters during World War I.Larzelere, p 72
Construction Seneca was built as Revenue Cutter 17 by Newport News Shipbuilding, hull number 85 at Newport News, Virginia at a cost of 244,500 and designed specifically to be used as a derelict destroyer for the Atlantic coast.Record of Movements, p 385 Floating wrecks, derelicts, were a common menace with international discussions and agreements concerning their elimination and some special cruises made to locate and destroy them. The United States Congress appropriated $250,000 for a vessel to be dedicated exclusively as a "derelict destroyer" equipped and crewed to most effectively eliminate the menace to navigation. Arrangements for vessels spotting derelicts to report them by wireless to the destroyer were planned. As of 1912 the United States was the first nation providing such specialized vessels. As the ship entered service hopes were expressed that her success would inspire other nations to join with such vessels.
She was powered by a triple-expansion steam engine with two Scotch boilers rated at . Seneca was fit with four 6-pounder rapid-fire guns and an unusually large ammunition magazine for the express purpose of destroying floating shipwrecks.
Prewar service Seneca was accepted by the government on 26 June 1908 and was commissioned by the Revenue Cutter Service at the Revenue Cutter Service Depot at Baltimore, Maryland, on 6 November of that year. On 8 November 1908 she proceeded to Tompkinsville, New York, to assume her principal mission as the derelict destroyer for the Atlantic coast.Larzelere, p 37 Her cruising district included the Atlantic Ocean to the eastward of the United States bounded by a line from Portland, Maine, to Sable Island, Nova Scotia, thence to the Bermuda Islands, and then to Charleston, South Carolina.King, p 126
On 29 November she destroyed her first derelict, a wreck off Hog Island, and then returned to Tompkinsville. On 23 January 1909 Seneca assisted USRC Gresham in the rescue of the crew of the White Star Line SS Republic after a collision with the Lloyd Italiano liner SS Florida southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts. She assisted Gresham with the tow in very threatening weather but ultimately Republic sank. Seneca took the crew to New York City.Evans, pp 184–186 In February the cutter visited Washington, D.C. and in June visited Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By 29 May 1909 Seneca had destroyed eleven good sized obstructions. On 21 September she was in New York for the Hudson–Fulton Celebration. On 17 May 1910 Seneca visited the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, and on 28 June she patrolled the Harvard–Yale Regatta at New London, Connecticut. In June 1911, she escorted the presidential yacht , which had President William Taft and his party on board, from Manhattan Beach to Fall River, Massachusetts.
On 23 May 1912, she was at Philadelphia representing the Revenue Cutter Service at the convention of Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses. On 29 June she patrolled the course of the Intercollegiate Rowing Association at Poughkeepsie, New York. During 4–6 September Seneca was at New London for the Fifth Convention of Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association. From 12 to 15 October, she patrolled the Navy Mobilization at New York City. On 2 September she patrolled the British International Trophy races at Huntington, Long Island. During the winter of 1912–1913 she took the place of on winter cruising.
First International Ice Patrol On 29 March 1913, Seneca was assigned to the International Ice Patrol.King, p 146 The disaster of 14 April 1912, and the loss of 1,517 lives, raised a universal demand for the patrol of the ice zone. Two U.S. Navy scout cruisers, and , had performed this patrol for the remainder of the 1912 ice season. The duty was then turned over in 1913 to the Revenue Cutter Service starting with the Seneca and the USRC Miami.King, p 146Kroll, p 97 The two cutters alternated patrols that were based out of Halifax, Nova Scotia.Kroll, p 99
Rescue of Columbia survivors On 16 September 1913 she towed the Lottie Russell, a derelict, into Halifax.Record of Movements, p 386 On 12 April 1914, while on ice patrol, Seneca rescued four survivors from a lifeboat which had been drifting in the North Atlantic for ten days. Originally 14 survivors of the British freighter Columbian had put to sea in this boat, but ten had died of hunger, thirst, and exposure. On 5 July 1914 she proceeded to Labrador to observe and investigate conditions governing the origins of the ice flows.
On 10 August 1914 she was ordered to cooperate with the in the enforcement of the neutrality of the United States after the outbreak of war on the European continent. In the winter of 1914–1915 she was again on winter cruising from Gay Head to the Delaware breakwater.
Transfer to the newly formed U.S. Coast Guard When the Revenue Cutter Service merged with the United States Life-Saving Service to form the United States Coast Guard on 28 January 1915, she became known as USCGC Seneca, a United States Coast Guard cutter."U.S. Coast Guard General Order No. 1", Historic Documents & Publications, U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office After winter cruising, she conducted another ice patrol in 1915. She again conducted a winter cruise in the winter of 1915–1916 and then an ice patrol in the spring of 1916. On 13–14 September 1916 the crew participated in the Marine Parade at Philadelphia. The winter of 1916–1917 was her last winter cruise before the war.
World War I The United States declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917 and Seneca and her crew, along with the rest of the Coast Guard, were transferred to the Navy Department. A battery of four guns were installed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The cutter was assigned to the Atlantic Patrol Fleet, Squadron Four, with headquarters at Key West, Florida. She arrived there on 22 May, and was assigned the duty to search the waters of Cuba and the Bahama Islands for enemy submarines.Larzelere, p 38 On 18 July she was reassigned to Seventh Naval District headquartered at Miami, Florida and assumed coastal patrol duties.Larzelere, p 38
Refit Seneca was then selected for convoy duty overseas along with five other larger Coast Guard cutters. She was overhauled and refitted with depth charge equipment at the Morse Dry Dock and Repair Company shipyard in New York.Kroll, p 115 Captain J. H. Brown was detached and Captain William J. Wheeler assumed command before the ship left the United States in the latter part of August.Larzelere, p 38
Gibraltar convoy escort She arrived at Gibraltar on 4 September 1917 and was assigned to Squadron Two of the Patrol Forces of the Atlantic Fleet. She began escorting convoys from Gibraltar to Tangiers and other nearby points.Kroll, p 115 She escorted six of these convoys and sighted one enemy submarine on 2 October. On 19 October she escorted her first convoy to England, being the lone escort of eleven merchant ships to Pembroke, Wales, where she arrived on 29 October. During this convoy two of the merchant vessels collided, and one, Usher, was sunk.Larzelere, p 54 On 3 November she escorted 14 ships back to Gibraltar, arriving the 11th. On 26 November a submarine was sighted in the moonlight about distant. Seneca fired two shots, forcing the submarine to submerge.
On 17 February 1918, lookouts sighted another submarine at astern. Seneca fired one shot, but owing to the darkness of the night, was unable to determine the results. On 4 March, one of the ships in Senecas convoy was torpedoed and sunk, but the submarine was not sighted. On the 22nd, new and improved depth charge releasing gear was installed on the cutter.
Rescue of Cowslip survivors Early in the morning of 25 March the men on Seneca heard a loud explosion within their convoy, and shortly afterward saw distress rockets in the air. They found the British ship Cowslip had been torpedoed and was sinking. Immediately a boat was put over with Third Lieutenant F. W. Brown in charge. They soon returned with 15 of Cowslip's men, along with one of Cowslip's boats with 19 others. Boatswain P. W. Patterson and a fresh boat crew took Cowslip's boat back, while Lieutenant Brown returned with Seneca's boat. Patterson's boat took 20 survivors on board and towed seven others in a small dinghy. Brown's boat rescued the last 19 on board the sinking vessel. Only five officers and one enlisted man were lost, and they had been killed in the explosion. This rescue was beyond the call of Seneca's duty as the escort vessels were to attack enemy submarines, but it was understood that when a ship was torpedoed the escorts were not expected to expose themselves to a similar fate by stopping to rescue the survivors. However, Captain Wheeler was commended for taking what was considered a "justifiable risk".
Torpedo near misses On 29 April 1918 Seneca while escorting a convoy near St. Vincent had one torpedo cross her bow ahead of her bow and during the avoidance maneuver for that torpedo, a second torpedo passed under her stern, apparently Seneca being too close to the attacker for the torpedo to arm.Larzelere, p 66 On 19 May Seneca joined up with what would be her 20th convoy at Falmouth, England. On the 20th she dropped a depth charge over a suspicious oil spot, whereupon a very heavy oil slick came to the surface. On her next convoy Seneca sighted a submarine on 8 June. After firing a torpedo at the cutter that passed close the Seneca'''s bow, the submarine submerged. Seneca attacked with depth charges and may have sunk the submarine, but they could not remain in the area to investigate further.
Rescue of Queen survivors On 25 June, while escorting 29 merchant ships to Gibraltar, Seneca's men heard a terrific explosion, and observing the steamer Queen sinking, they drove Seneca at full speed to the rescue. So badly was the Queen hit that within five minutes of the explosion she was completely out of sight under the water, taking 25 of her men with her, including the commodore of the convoy. Twenty-seven survivors were clinging to the small boats and pieces of floating wreckage. Seneca's No. 1 lifeboat with Third Lieutenant F. W. Brown in charge, was lowered to pick them up. All 27 were safely on board Seneca within 40 minutes. For the remainder of the convoy's run, Captain Wheeler assumed command.
Submarine false alarm On her next convoy, the 23rd, she was escorting 25 ships to England when on 13 July one of the ships in the convoy sounded the submarine warning and hoisted a signal reading "submarine to starboard." Seneca immediately stood in that direction, dropping two depth charges on the flank of the convoy as a precautionary measure, and stood full speed in the direction of the submarine some off. Seneca then began firing, and expended 28 rounds. Upon closer approach the submarine proved to be a dead whale, floating on its side and bearing a striking resemblance to the conning tower of a submarine. Four holes in the carcass testified to the accuracy of the Senecas guns.
Drama of the Wellington rescue