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At the beginning of World War II, the US Navy, in spite of the massive Two Ocean Navy Act of 1940, was still critically short of ships of all kinds. As an interim measure, while the shipbuilding program spun up, the Navy bought or seized a large number of private vessels. The motor yachts of quite a few millionaires found themselves in grey paint, with a couple of obsolescent guns bolted on. For the most part, these were used as patrol vessels off the mouths of the great harbors of the East Coast.

One slightly surprising induction into the Navy was the sailing yacht Odyssey, taken into service early in 1942.

At 88 feet, and 92 tons, a yawl rigged sailboat might seem a bit odd for a choice as a warship. Nevertheless, she was commissioned into the US Navy as the USS Saluda (IX-87).

USS Saluda spent most of the war performing sound trials and hydroacoustic research in the ongoing effort to improve out fleet’s anti-submarine warfare capabilities. While the ship had a diesel auxiliary engine, the option to operate under sail power alone made for a very quiet platform, and a very handy test platform.

After the war, Saluda would make her way to San Diego, and serve for many years doing acoustic research for the Navy, eventually losing her status as a commissioned ship, and simply becoming a miscellaneous yard craft.

Eventually, in 1974, Saluda had outlived her usefulness, and was stricken from the Naval Register, and place for disposal.

At the time, my dad was CO of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, WA. And some bright soul on the base staff noticed the listing for disposal. When government equipment is listed for disposal, government agencies get first dibs on it. And so, this bright person suggested that NAS Whidbey should snap up Saluda, and let her be used by Morale, Welfare and Recreation as a pleasure craft.

The only real challenge was finding a sailing qualified Coast Guard licensed master. Soon enough, one stepped forward, and with a couple of deckhands, proceeded to sail Saluda from San Diego to the Seaplane Base at Whidbey,  where she moored at the long pier built to support the fuel barges that supply the base with jet fuel.

For very reasonable rates, groups, such as say, a Prowler squadron, might rent the Saluda for a day cruise, or a weekend in the beautiful San Juan Islands just north of Whidbey Island.

She was a beautiful ship, and still had aboard most of her luxury fittings from her first incarnation as a yacht.

Sadly, after four years, the costs of maintaining her, coupled with the departure of her licensed master, meant the time had finally come for the Navy to divest itself of the old girl.

But her days of sailing were not over. This time, when she was listed for disposal, she was snapped up by the Sea Scouts, and to this day, sails under her original name, as the Sea Scout Ship Odyssey out of Tacoma, Washington.