USLHT Azalea
USLHT Azalea in 1891 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Name | USLHT Azalea |
| Operator | United States Lighthouse Service |
| Builder | Jonson Foundry & Machine Company |
| Cost | $79,792.40 |
| Launched | 29 November 1890 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Transferred to US Navy |
| United States | |
| Name | USS Azalea |
| Operator | U.S. Navy |
| Commissioned | 9 May 1917 |
| Fate | Transferred to U.S. Lighthouse Service |
| United States | |
| Name | USLHT Azalea |
| Operator | United States Lighthouse Service |
| Acquired | 1 July 1919 |
| Fate | Sold to Wilson Line |
| United States | |
| Name | Christiana |
| Operator | Wilson Line |
| Acquired | 1933 |
| Identification | Official Number 232860 |
| Fate | Sold to Bahamas Trading Company |
| Honduras | |
| Name | Christiana |
| Operator | Bahamas Trading Company |
| Acquired | 1940 |
| Fate | Sold to US Navy |
| United States | |
| Name |
|
| Operator | United States Navy |
| Acquired | August 1942 |
| Commissioned | 9 November 1942 |
| Decommissioned | 28 July 1945 |
| Identification | Radio Call Sign: NWJT |
| Fate | Sold to Banana Supply Co. |
| Honduras | |
| Name | Christiana |
| Operator |
|
| Fate | Scrapped in 1965 |
| General characteristics as built in 1891 | |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 154 ft (47 m) |
| Beam | 25 ft (7.6 m) |
| Draft | 8 ft (2.4 m) |
| Depth of hold | 12 ft 3 in (3.73 m) |
| Installed power | 400 hp (300 kW) |
| Complement | 5 officers, 19 crew (1915) |
USLHT Azalea was built as a lighthouse tender and performed in that role on the Massachusetts coast from 1891 to 1917 and again from 1919 to 1933. During World War I, she served in the United States Navy as USS Azalea. Between the wars she was a commercial freighter in Chesapeake Bay, and later between Florida and The Bahamas. During World War II, she was reacquired by the U.S. Navy and served as USS Christiana, a seaplane tender which supported advanced bases in The Bahamas. Declared surplus in 1946, she was sold to Banana Supply Company, and spent a decade transporting bananas from the Caribbean to Miami. After 1956 her history is uncertain until she became a half-sunk derelict and was scrapped in Miami in 1965.