USS Tingey (TB-34), was a Blakely-class torpedo boat

Torpedo boat

A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...

 of the 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...

. She was the first of three ships to be named for named after Commodore Thomas Tingey

Thomas Tingey

Thomas Tingey was a Commodore of the United States Navy.-History:Tingey was born in London on 11 September 1750. As a youth, he served in the British Navy commanding a blockhouse at Chateaux Bay on the Labrador coast. He later commanded merchant vessels in the West Indies before coming to the...

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The first Tingey (Torpedo Boat No. 34) was laid down on 29 March 1899 at Baltimore, Maryland, by the Columbian Iron Works, launched on 25 March 1901, sponsored by Miss Anna T. Craven, the great-great-granddaughter of Commodore Tingey, and commissioned at Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

, on 7 January 1904, Lt. John Francis Marshall in command.

1904–1917

Tingey then joined the Reserve Torpedo Flotilla at its base at the Norfolk Navy Yard and remained there for the first third of her Navy career. For the most part, she lay tied up at pierside; but, periodically she got underway to insure her material readiness should a need for her services ever arise. By 1908, she was reassigned to the 3rd Torpedo Flotilla, but she remained relatively inactive at Norfolk. In 1909, she was listed as a unit of the Atlantic Torpedo Fleet. However, all three organizations to which she was assigned appear simply to have been different names for the same duty — lying at pierside in reserve.

Sometime late in 1909, Tingey moved south from Norfolk to Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

, where she was promptly placed in reserve again on 22 December 1909. The torpedo boat remained at Charleston, in various conditions of reserve, but apparently always still in commission. Infrequently, she got underway to test her machinery. In 1917, Tingey moved north to the Philadelphia Navy Yard where she was placed out of commission on 8 March 1917.

1917–1919

A month later on 7 April 1917, she was recommissioned and moved further north to patrol the coastal waters of the 1st Naval District during the period the United States participated in 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...

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In September 1918, the torpedo boat's name was canceled so that it could be given to Destroyer No. 272

USS Tingey (DD-272)

The second USS Tingey was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I. She was named for Thomas Tingey.-History:...

, one of the new s. The older vessel then became Coast Torpedo Boat No. 17. Two months later, Germany sued for the armistice which ended hostilities.

Decommissioning and sale

Coast Torpedo Boat No. 17 was placed out of commission at Philadelphia on 30 January 1919, and she was struck from the Navy List

Naval Vessel Register

The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...

 on 28 October 1919. On 10 March 1920, she was sold to the Independent Pier Co., 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...

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