High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! USS Barracuda (SP-23) was the designation for a motorboat considered in 1916 or 1917 for service in the United States Navy that never actually was acquired by the Navy. Barracuda was a private motorboat built in 1916 at Amityville, New York. The U.S. Navy inspected her in late 1916 or early 1917 for possible World War I service as a patrol boat, and she was registered accordingly with the naval section patrol designation SP-23. However, the Navy never took possession of or commissioned Barracuda, and she remained in civilian hands throughout the war.