USS MacKenzie (TB-17)

USS MacKenzie (TB-17) underway, c. 1901
History
United States
Name:	MacKenzie
Namesake:	Lt. Commander Alexander S. MacKenzie
Ordered:	10 June 1896 (authorised)
Builder:	Hillman & Sons, Philadelphia
Laid down:	15 April 1897
Launched:	19 February 1898
Sponsored by:	Master Charles Hillman
Commissioned:	1 May 1899
Decommissioned:	10 March 1916
Struck:	10 March 1916
Identification:	TB-17
Fate:	target ship
General characteristics [1]
Class and type:	MacKenzie-class torpedo boat
Displacement:	65 long tons (66 t)[2]
Length:	101 ft 6 in (30.94 m)
Beam:	12 ft 9 in (3.89 m)
Draft:	4 ft 3 in (1.30 m) (mean)[2]
Installed power:	2 × Thornycroft boilers 850 ihp (630 kW)
Propulsion:	vertical triple expansion engine 1 × screw propellers
Speed:	20.1 knots (37.2 km/h; 23.1 mph) 20.11 kn (23.14 mph; 37.24 km/h) (Speed on Trial)[2]
Complement:	14 officers and enlisted
Armament:	1 × 1-pounder (37 mm (1.46 in)) guns 1 × 18 in (460 mm) torpedo tubes

The first USS MacKenzie (Torpedo Boat No. 17/TB-17), was laid down by Charles Hillman Ship & Engine Building Company, Philadelphia, 15 April 1897; launched 19 February 1898; sponsored by Master Charles Hillman; and commissioned 1 May 1899, Lt. L. H. Chandler in command.

Departing League Island 28 May 1899, MacKenzie sailed north to Newport. Arriving on the 31st, she decommissioned and joined other torpedo boats, such as USS Du Pont and USS Winslow, in occasional employment in experimental and training duties. Recommissioned 7 November 1902, she steamed to Norfolk where she joined the Reserve Torpedo Flotilla on the 14th. Serving with that flotilla for the greater part of the next 10 years, she was occasionally used as a training ship at the US Naval Academy, and in 1908 operated off the southeastern seaboard.

She decommissioned at Charleston, South Carolina, 15 April 1912, and departed the next day for Florida. She arrived at Key West 19 April and on 7 May was turned over to the Florida Naval Militia, in which she served until returned to the Navy in November 1914. She cruised off southern Florida for the next year, cruising to Havana in October 1915. In 1916, the torpedo boat was designated as a target ship and 10 March 1916 her name was struck from the Navy list.

References

1. "USS MacKenzie (TB-17)". Navsource.org. Retrieved July 11, 2015.
2. "Table 11 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office: 725. 1921.

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• Technical data from Gardiner, Robert (1979). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905. Conway Maritime Press. p. 161. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.

External links

• Photo gallery of MacKenzie at NavSource Naval History