USS Menhaden (SP-847) sometime between May 1917 and November 1918.
History
United States
Name	USS Menhaden
Namesake	Previous name retained
Builder	C. W. Crockett, Pocomoke City, Maryland
Completed	1905
Acquired	May 1917
Commissioned	21 May 1917
Decommissioned	12 March 1919
Fate	Returned to owner 12 March 1919
Notes	Operated as commercial tug Menhaden 1905-1917 and from 1919
General characteristics
Type	Patrol vessel and tug
Tonnage	93 Gross register tons
Length	100 ft (30 m)
Beam	17 ft 9 in (5.41 m)
Draft	9 ft 6 in (2.90 m)
Propulsion	Coal-burning steam engine
Speed	8 knots
Complement	19
Armament	2 × 1-pounder guns

The first USS Menhaden (SP-847) was a United States Navy patrol vessel and tug in commission from 1917 to 1919.

Menhaden was built as a commercial tug of the same name in 1905 by C. W. Crockett at Pocomoke City, Maryland. In May 1917, the U.S. Navy chartered her from her owner, E. Benson Dennis of Cape Charles, Virginia, for use as a section patrol vessel during World War I. She was commissioned as USS Menhaden (SP-847) on 21 May 1917.

Assigned to the 5th Naval District and based at Norfolk, Virginia, Menhaden provided tug and towing services and conducted harbor patrols in Hampton Roads for the rest of World War I and into 1919. She also provided support to the 5th Naval District's minesweepers.

Menhaden was returned to Dennis on 12 March 1919.

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• Department of the Navy Naval History and Heritage Command Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships: USS Menhaden (SP-847), 1917-1919
• NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive Menhaden (SP 847)