USS Cythera (PY-31)

USS Cythera (PY-31) on 10 November 1943.
History
Flag unknown
Name	Argosy
Builder	Germania Werft, Kiel, Germany
Completed	1931
Renamed	Vita
Renamed	Abril
Fate	Sold to U.S. Navy 14 July 1942
United States Navy
Name	USS Cythera (PY-31)
Namesake	Cythera, one of the Ionian Islands
Acquired	14 July 1942
Commissioned	26 October 1942
Decommissioned	3 January 1944
In service	3 January 1944 (non-commissioned)
Out of service	14 March 1946
Fate	Transferred to U.S. Maritime Commission for disposal 6 November 1946 Sold late 1946
Flag unknown
Name	Abril
Owner	Tyre Shipping Company
Operator	Irgun Zvai Leumi
In service	1946
Renamed	Ben Hecht
Namesake	Ben Hecht (1894–1964), American screenwriter, director, producer, playwright, journalist, novelist, and Zionist
Fate	Captured 8 March 1947
Israeli Navy
Name	INS Ma'oz (K 24)
Commissioned	September 1948
Fate	Sold 1956
Badge
Flag unknown
Name	Abril
In service	1956
Italy
Name	Santa Maria del Mare
Fate	Sold 2008
Flag unknown
Name	Rossy One
Status	Active as private luxury yacht 2009
General characteristics as U.S. Navy vessel
Type	Patrol vessel
Displacement	800 tons (full-load)
Length	205 ft 7 in (62.66 m)
Beam	30 ft (9.1 m)
Draft	10 ft 10 in (3.3 m)
Propulsion	2 × 1,800 bhp (1,342 kW) Atlas[1] or 2 × 2,060 bhp (1,536 kW) Krupp[2] diesel engines, two shafts
Speed	15 knots
Complement	74
Armament	1 × 3-inch (76.2 mm)/50-caliber gun 4 × 20 mm cannon[2]

The second USS Cythera (PY-31) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1942 to 1944 and in non-commissioned service from 1944 to 1946. She also served in the Israeli Navy as INS Ma'oz (K 234) from 1948 to 1956.

In addition to naval service, the vessel operated as the blockade runner Ben Hecht to smuggle Jewish refugees into Mandatory Palestine, as a civilian yacht under various names, and as a ferry in Italy.