USS Siren (PY-13)

USS Siren (PY-13), briefly CMc-1, was a yacht in commission in the United States Navy as a Patrol Yacht from 1940 to 1946.

Construction, acquisition, and commissioning
Lotosland-a yacht built in 1929 by Pusey and Jones of Wilmington, Delaware-was purchased from Col. Edward A. Deeds on 16 October 1940 for use as a coastal minesweeper and was renamed Siren (CMc-1). On 15 November 1940, she was commissioned and redesignated a patrol yacht, PY-13.

Siren was converted for military use at the General Engineering & Ship Works yards in Neponset, Mass. Her conversion completed by mid-March. Siren reported on the 18th for duty to the Commandant of the 1st Naval District.

Service history
From her home yard, Boston, she patrolled the New England coast from Eastport, Maine, to Block Island, Rhode Island. For almost a year, from March 1941 until February 1942, Siren served with the Inshore Patrol, at first on Neutrality Patrol and then, after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and Germany's declaration of war on the following day, in the actual defense of the United States shoreline.

On 10 February 1942, Siren was reassigned to the Eastern Sea Frontier. This change was part of the Navy's response to the German submarine offensive of 1942 which was centered in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. During this and her next assignment-to the Commander, Atlantic Fleet-from December 1942 until April 1944, Siren patrolled and escorted convoys along the southeastern coast of the United States and between the islands of the Caribbean. Her duties during these two assignments carried her to such places as Trinidad, Jamaica, Cuba, and Key West. On one occasion, she even ventured as far south as Recife, Brazil. During this period, Siren rescued survivors of a U-boat sunk by a Navy PBY patrol plane.

After a short period assigned to the 7th Naval District at Key West, Florida, in April 1944, she was transferred to the 3d Naval District at New York City for duty at the Naval Training School (Salvage). Siren was decommissioned at New York on 2 May 1944 and was placed in service. She served at the Naval Training School (Salvage) until 3 March 1945, when she sailed for temporary duty in the 8th Naval District at Orange, Texas. On 3 October 1945, she arrived at Tompkinsville, New York, to begin preparing for lay-up; and she was placed out of service there on 23 October 1945. Siren was struck from the Navy list on 13 November 1945 and turned over to the War Shipping Administration for disposal. She was sold on 13 August 1946.