WADENA SP 158

Ship Name and Designation History

This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.

Patrol Yacht
Built 1891 by the Cleveland Shipbuilding Co., Cleveland, OH


1. WADENA (Private Yacht)
Owned by Jeptha Home Wade II by the Cleveland Shipbuilding Company of Cleveland, Ohio
Acquired by U.S. Navy May 25 1917


2. USS WADENA SP-158
Commissioned January 14 1918 - Decommissioned May 19 1919


3. WADENA (Private Yacht)
Initially sold 3 September 1919 to Morris Levinson but it ultimately went to S. Harry Johnson of New York City
[See the "Additional Naming History Sources" section below for information about the court fight and US Supreme Court ruling.]
Sold January 3 1921 by Johnson to Aeromarine Plane and Motor Co. of New York
Sold January 11 1921 to Aeromarine Engineering Sales Co. of Keyport, NJ

Abandoned and scrapped 1931

 

Naval Covers

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Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each incarnation of the ship (ie, for each entry in the "Ship Name and Designation History" section). Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.

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DATE FROM to DATE TO

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Other Information

NAMESAKE - Former name retained

 

Additional Naming History Sources

Initially sold by the US Navy on 3 September 1919 to Morris Levinson.
However, due to an error by the Navy in the bidding process, the Navy refused to deliver Wadena to Levinson and chose to sell it to S. Harry Johnson of New York City.
Levinson sued and while the District Court sided with him, the United States Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Johnson.
On June 24 1920, the US District Court entered a decree that Johnson is entitled to SS Wadena.
Johnson paid for and took possession of Wadena on or about July 12 1920.
On or about January 3 1921, Johnson sold and delivered SS Wadena to Aeromarine Plane & Motor Company,
which then sold, transferred and delivered SS Wadena to the Aeromarine Engineering & Sales Co. Inc., on or about January 11, 1921.

In the meantime, Levinson filed a petition for appeal with the US Supreme Court on Sept 10, 1920, but it was not argued before the Court until March 3, 1922.
As stated in an Amicus Curiae (Friend of the Court) brief to the US Supreme Court:
"It is obvious that any opinion or decree which this court may now announce would be merely advisory, as the Secretary of the Navy has no steam yacht Wadena to deliver."
Ultimately on March 13, 1922, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Levinson, but it was a hollow victory.

Wikipedia has an article about the US Supreme Court case.

Various briefings for the US Supreme Court case can be found at Transcript of Record - Supreme Court of the United States - October Term 1921 (available via Google Books)

 

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