USS Nirvana II (SP-204) was a United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1918.

Nirvana II was built as a civilian

Civilian

A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces or other militia. Civilians are distinct from combatants. They are afforded a degree of legal protection from the effects of war and military occupation...

 motorboat

Motorboat

A motorboat is a boat which is powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gearbox and the propeller in one portable unit.An inboard/outboard contains a hybrid of a...

 of the same name in 1916 by Brett Brothers at West Lynn, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

. The U.S. Navy acquired her from her owner, J. Hartley Merrick of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, on 18 May 1917 for World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 service as a patrol vessel. She was commissioned

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

 as USS Nirvana II (SP-204) the same day with Lieutenant, junior grade

Lieutenant, Junior Grade

Lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer rank in the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, United States Merchant Marine USMM, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, with the pay grade...

, Frederic M. Gardner in command.

Nirvana II was assigned to the 4th Naval District, headquartered at Philadelphia, during the war, alternating between the Northern Patrol Area and the Southern Patrol Area along the United States East Coast. The routine was interrupted in June 1917 when she took to high seas patrol from 9 to 12 June and dispatch boat

Dispatch boat

Dispatch boats were small boats, and sometimes large ships, tasked to carry military dispatches from ship to ship or from ship to shore or, in some cases from shore to shore...

 duty from 13 to 16 June. In September 1917, she joined the Special Cruising Squadron, adding status to her patrol duties.

After a respite at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on League Island

League Island

League Island was an island in the Delaware River, part of the city of Philadelphia, just upstream from the mouth of the Schuylkill River, which was the site of the Philadelphia shipyard, which eventually became the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, now known as the Philadelphia Naval Business...

 in Philadelphia in February 1918, Nirvana II was based at Reedy Island

Reedy Island

Reedy Island is a small island in the middle of the channel of the Delaware River near its mouth on Delaware Bay in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is located approximately 1 mi east of Port Penn, Delaware and 5 mi southwest of Salem, New Jersey.The island was the location of Reedy...

 in the Delaware River

Delaware River

The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...

 and shuttled from one island to another around Philadelphia. She remained at this work until dispatch duty to New Castle

New Castle, Delaware

New Castle is a city in New Castle County, Delaware, six miles south of Wilmington, situated on the Delaware River. In 1900, 3,380 people lived here; in 1910, 3,351...

, Delaware

Delaware

Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...

, in August 1918. Thereafter she moved up to Essington, Pennsylvania, for boarding duty in September 1918.

Decommissioning

Ship decommissioning

To decommission a ship is to terminate her career in service in the armed forces of her nation. A somber occasion, it has little of the elaborate ceremony of ship commissioning, but carries significant tradition....

 at Philadelphia on 30 November 1918, Nirvana II was returned to her owner on 2 December 1918.

USS Nirvana II should not be confused with another patrol vessel in commission during 1917 under the name USS Nirvana (SP-706)

USS Nirvana (SP-706)

USS Nirvana , later USS SP-706, was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission in 1917 and from 1918 to 1919.Nirvana was built as the civilian motorboat Tarpon II in 1915 by S.O. Hauser at Staten Island, New York. She later was renamed Nirvana.The U.S. Navy acquired Nirvana from her owner, M. S...

.