History
United States
Name	USS W. L. Messick
Namesake	Previous name retained
Owner	Joseph F. Bellows
Builder	Smith and McCoy, Norfolk, Virginia
Completed	1911
Acquired	7 April 1917
Commissioned	7 April 1917
Fate	Sold 27 August 1919
General characteristics
Type	Minesweeper
Tonnage	237 tons gross
Length	145 ft 0 in (44.20 m)
Beam	23 ft 0 in (7.01 m)
Draft	9 ft 0 in (2.74 m) mean
Propulsion	Steam engine
Complement	36
Armament	1 × 6-pounder gun

USS W. L. Messick (SP-322) was a minesweeper that served in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919.

W. L. Messick was a wooden- hulled, screw steamer built in 1911 at Norfolk, Virginia, by Smith and McCoy. The U.S. Navy purchased her on 7 April 1917 from Joseph H. Bellows of Reedville, Virginia, for World War I service. Commissioned as USS W. L. Messick on the same day and classified as SP-322, she was assigned to the 5th Naval District and served as a minesweeper in the Virginia Capes area for the duration of World War I. She was subsequently decommissioned and sold on 27 August 1919 to her former owner

References

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive W. L. Missick (SP 322)