 "Polly" was built as the private motorboat "Howmornel" by the New York Yacht, Launch and Engineering Company at Morris Heights in the Bronx, New York, in 1909.She later was renamed "Kakhin IV" and "Polly".On 14 May 1917, the U.S. Navy purchased "Polly" from William H. Merriman, of New Haven, Connecticut, for use as a section patrol boat during World War I.