A 45-foot (14-meter) Electric Launch Company (ELCO) "motor cruiser" depicted in a halftone reproduction, published with an ELCO advertisement in a pre-World War I boating publication. USS Caprice (SP-703) was built as a private motorboat to this design.
History
United States
Name	USS Caprice
Namesake	Previous name retained
Builder	Electric Launch Company (ELCO), Bayonne, New Jersey
Completed	1914
Acquired	May 1917
Commissioned	24 August 1917
Decommissioned	24 January 1919
Fate	Returned to owner 24 January 1919
Notes	Operated as private motorboat Caprice 1914–1917 and from 1919
General characteristics
Type	Patrol vessel
Length	45 ft 10 in (13.97 m)
Draft	5 ft (1.5 m)
Speed	9 knots
Complement	9
Armament	1 × 1-pounder gun

The first USS Caprice (SP-703) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.

Caprice was built in 1914 as a private motorboat of the same name by the Electric Launch Company (ELCO) at Bayonne, New Jersey. In May 1917, the U.S. Navy acquired her under a free lease from her owner, William Sloan of Norfolk, Virginia, for use as a section patrol boat during World War I. She was commissioned as USS Caprice (SP-703) on 24 August 1917.

Assigned to the 5th Naval District, Caprice carried out patrol duties for the rest of World War I.

Caprice was decommissioned on 24 January 1919 and returned to Sloan the same day.

References

• 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: Civilian Ships: Caprice (American Motor Boat, 1914). Served as USS Caprice (SP-703) in 1917–1919
• NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive Caprice (SP 703)