The fifth USS Ranger (SP-237) was 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 1919.
Ranger was built as the steam-driven, steel-hulled

Hull (watercraft)

A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...

 yacht Thomas Slocum by Robert Jacob Shipyard at City Island, Bronx

City Island, Bronx

City Island is a small island approximately 1.5 mi long by .5 mi wide. At one time attached to the town of Pelham, Westchester County, it is now part of the New York City borough of the Bronx. As of the 2000 census the island had a population of 4,520. Its land area is 1.023 km²...

, New York, in 1910. She later was renamed Ranger. The U.S. Navy purchased Ranger from her owner, T.W. Slocum of New York City, on 22 June 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 and 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...

 her as USS Ranger (SP-237) on 9 October 1917 with Lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

 J. J. Smith, USNRF, in command.

Assigned to the 3rd Naval District, Ranger operated as a section patrol

Section patrol

A Section Patrol craft was a civilian vessel registered by the United States Navy for potential service during and shortly after World War I....

 craft in the New York City area. She was renamed USS SP-237 in 1918.

SP-237 was decommissioned

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....

 on 28 April 1919 and transferred to the Department of Commerce for use by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. She served with the Survey as USC&GS Ranger

USC&GS Ranger

USC&GS Ranger was a steamer that served in the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey from 1919 to 1930 or 1931.Ranger was built as the civilian steam-driven, steel-hulled yacht Thomas Slocum in 1910 by the Robert Jacob Shipyard at City Island in the Bronx, New York. She later was renamed Ranger...

 until either 26 November 1930 or 31 January 1931, when she was returned to the U.S. Navy. She was stricken from the Navy List

Navy List

A Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a country....

 on 4 September 1931 and sold on 21 December 1931.

In 1932, registry of the vessel was transferred to Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

.

Ranger should not be confused with USS Ranger (SP-369)

USS Ranger (SP-369)

The sixth USS Ranger was a coastal minesweeper that served in the U.S. Navy from 1918 to 1919.Ranger was a wooden motorboat built by T. A. Scott Company, New London, Connecticut, in 1882 and rebuilt in 1915. She was acquired by the U.S...

, a coastal minesweeper

Minesweeper (ship)

A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...

 also in commission during World War I, or USS Ranger (CC-4), a battlecruiser

Battlecruiser

Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...

proposed during World War I but never completed.