Severn II

(Bark: t. 1,175; 1. 224'3"; b. 37'; dr. 16'; cpl. 113,
midshipmen 122; a. 6 4", 4 6-pdrs., 2 1-pdrs.)

The second Severn, a three-masted, sheathed, wooden bark with auxiliary steam power, was laid down as Chesapeake on 2 August 1898 by the Bath Iron Works Bath, Maine; launched on 30 June 1899 sponsored by Miss Elise Bradford, and commissioner on 12 April 1900, Lt. Comdr. C. E. Colahan in command.

Following commissioning, Chesapeake was towed to Annapolis, Md., where she assumed duties as station ship and practice ship for midshipmen at the Naval Academy. Renamed Severn on 15 June 1905 the Bark decommissioned twice for repair and overhaul, provided facilities for seamanship drills at the Academy and conducted summer cruises off southern New England
through 1909. On 15 February 1910, however, she was ordered refitted as a submarine tender; and, on completion of that work in mid-May, she reported for duty with the 3d Submarine Division. For the next three years, she performed tender duties off New England during the summer and in Chesapeake Bay during the winter, her movements being accomplished under tow.

Decommissioned a third time for overhaul after summer maneuvers in 1913, Severn was recommissioned on 15 November and transferred to the Panama Canal Zone. She arrived at Coco Solo on 12 December 1913 and served as tender to the 1st Submarine Division into July 1916. Then ordered back to the United States, she arrived at Norfolk, under tow by Nereus, on 1 August and was decommissioned on 3 October, and she was sold to F. G. McDonald of Ardmore, Pa., on 7 December.