Griswold SP-3138

The first Griswold was a former name retained. The second Griswold is named for Ens. Don T. Griswold, Jr., born 8 July 1917 in Bryan, Tex. After attending Iowa State, Griswold joined the Naval Aviation Corps. During the crucial Battle of Midway, 6 June 1942, his scout bomber scored a hit on a Japanese ship but paid dearly for it as he was hit by antiaircraft fire and plunged into the sea. Ens. Griswold was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

The first Griswold(SP-3138), a wooden ferryboat, was built in 1899 by A. Nicholson, of Albany, N.Y., and was taken over by the Navy 12 August 1918, from her owner, East and West Shore Ferry & Transportation Co., New Haven, Conn. She commissioned 3 September 1918, at New York, Ens. W. J. Wilson, USNRF, in command.

Griswold was assigned to the 3d Naval District, and was used during her commissioned service as a ferry between the Bayonne, N.J., fuel depot and St. George, Staten Island, N.Y. She was detached from that duty 9 June 1919 and was simultaneously decommissioned and returned to her owner 20 June 1919.

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