xnu WSQ 1930 USS Lydonia

U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey vessel Lydonia

Operator: Joseph A. Sheppard, W4UX, ex-4UX, Silent Key (1909-1971).

This QSL confirms a QSO between ship station WSQ and amateur station W5KC.

The "xnu" is not a prefix; the letters are a combination of "indicatives" that identified the continent and country location of this station. The use of indicatives was an unofficial procedure that was used before amateur stations were authorized to have a call sign with a prefix (roughly prior to 1928). The "x" indicates a ship, "n" North America," and "u" United States.

The "Lydonia" and other vessels were exploring the waters off the Atlantic coast of the U.S., out to a limit of 100 fathoms. Depth measurements were recorded.

Joseph Adolphus Sheppard was born July 6, 1909 in Jacksonville, Florida and died February 28, 1971. He was radio operator aboard numerous other ships through the end of World War II.

USS Lydonia (SP-700), 1917-1919. Previously the civilian steam yacht Lydonia (1912)

USS Lydonia, a 497 gross ton patrol vessel, was built in 1912 at Wilmington, Delaware, as a privately-owned steam yacht. She was acquired by the Navy in August 1917 for World War I service and, following conversion to a warship, was placed in commission in late October. In November and December 1917 she steamed across the Atlantic to the European war zone. Based at Gibraltar for the rest of the conflict, Lydonia performed patrol and convoy escort missions in the eastern Atlantic and western Mediterranean. In February 1918 she made two attacks on suspected U-boats, but without positive result. On 8 May, however, she joined the British destroyer Basilisk in depth charging and sinking the German submarine UB-70. A few months after the 11 November 1918 Armistice stopped the fighting, Lydonia returned to the United States. She was decommissioned in August 1919 and transferred to the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.

USS Lydonia (SP-700), 1917-1919. Previously the civilian steam yacht Lydonia.

QSL & Info courtesy of W5KNE
From the estate of W5KC
USS Lydonia photo courtesy of U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph