Valiant I

Valiant I

(Cutter: t. 13; l. 60'; b. 12'6"; dr. 8'; s. 8 k.; cpl. 9;
a. 1 1-pdr., 1 .30-car. mg.)

The first Valiant (SP-535)—a wooden-hulled sailing cutter completed in 1896 by Charles S. Drowne—was rebuilt in 1907 and was fitted with an auxiliary engine to augment her sails in 1917. The vessel was acquired by the Navy under free lease from Henry M. Warren and commissioned at Philadelphia on 29 May 1917 Ens. R. F. Watson, USNRF, in command.

Valiant operated on 4th Naval District patrol duties locally, in the Cape May, N.J., area, for the duration of World War I. She was subsequently decommissioned

at the Corinthian Yacht Club, near Philadelphia, Pa., on 11 January 1919, and returned to her owner soon thereafter.