science

USS Cobra

USS Cobra is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand USS Cobra rather than just read about it. In short: USS Cobra (SP-626) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919 that operated during World War I. She originally was constructed as a private motorboat.

Key takeaways

USS Cobra belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect USS Cobra to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of USS Cobra from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

USS Cobra (SP-626) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919 that operated during World War I. She originally was constructed as a private motorboat. After the conclusion of her U.S. Navy career, she served as the fishery patrol vessel USFS Petrel for the United States Bureau of Fisheries from 1919 to 1934, operating in the waters of the Territory of Alaska.

Construction Cobra was built as a private motorboat of the same name at Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1917 at a cost of US$14,000. She had one mast and could accommodate seven passengers and crew.

U.S. Navy service On 19 September 1917, the U.S. Navy acquired Cobra for use as a section patrol boat during World War I. She was commissioned as USS Cobra (SP-626) on 19 September 1917. Assigned to the 1st Naval District in northern New England, Cobra performed patrol duty for the rest of World War I. World War I ended on 11 November 1918, and sometime thereafter the Navy decommissioned Cobra. Under an executive order dated 24 May 1919 addressing the disposition of vessels the Navy no longer required, Cobra was among several vessels designated for transfer to the United States Bureau of Fisheries (BOF). The Navy duly transferred her to the BOF on 9 September 1919.

U.S. Bureau of Fisheries service

Prior to Cobra's official transfer, the Bureau of Fisheries took possession of her at Quincy, Massachusetts, in July 1919 and renamed her USFS Petrel. The BOF vessel USFS Phalarope towed Petrel and another former U.S. Navy patrol boat, the BOF vessel USFS Merganser, from Quincy to the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia. There Petrel and Merganser were loaded aboard the U.S. Navy collier USS Neptune on 3 October 1919. Neptune transported them to the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton, Washington, arriving there in early 1920. After they were unloaded, Petrel and Merganser were taken to Seattle, Washington, to undergo inspection. After the inspections were complete, Petrel and Merganser were loaded aboard the Pacific American Fisheries steamer Redwood, which transported them to Kings Cove, Territory of Alaska, where Redwood arrived on 18 June 1920. The BOF intended to use them to conduct fishery patrols in the waters of Alaska, but withheld them from service, and instead sent them back to Seattle for repairs and to modify them for fishery patrol work as funds became available for the repairs and modifications. Petrel's modifications took place in early 1922; they involved general remodeling, re-decking, and the replacement of her original 350–400-horsepower (261–298 kW) Dusenberg engine with a more economical 25-horsepower (19 kW) Standard engine removed from the BOF vessel USFS Auklet when Auklet underwent an engine upgrade. Early in the summer of 1922, Auklet towed Petrel to Wrangell, Territory of Alaska, from which Petrel finally began her annual patrol duties, operating in the waters of Southeast Alaska. Petrel's engine eventually broke down, and she was laid up during the 1926 fishing season. After the installation of a new 50-horsepower (37 kW), four-cylinder Cummins engine, she resumed her patrol duties on 20 September 1927. During 1930, she was involved in enforcing laws protecting fur seal populations near Sitka, Territory of Alaska. Petrel's last BOF service took place during the 1934 fishing season. At the conclusion of the season, she was decommissioned at Seattle.

Notes

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: U.S. Navy Ships: USS Cobra (SP-626), 1917–1919 Photo gallery of USS Cobra at NavSource Naval History

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with USS Cobra

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what USS Cobra claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to USS Cobra before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about USS Cobra ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of USS Cobra

In research: USS Cobra appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses USS Cobra in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: USS Cobra is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1917 ships, Fishery protection vessels, Ships built in Lynn, Massachusetts, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for USS Cobra outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study USS Cobra in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what USS Cobra means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain USS Cobra out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is USS Cobra in simple terms?

USS Cobra (SP-626) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919 that operated during World War I. She originally was constructed as a private motorboat.

Why does USS Cobra matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study USS Cobra?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on USS Cobra.