Description

The TSSY DOLAURA was a private yacht built in 1908 for Hon. James Dunsmuir by the Fleming and Ferguson shipyard of Paisely, Scotland. It was named by combining the names of Dola and Laura Dunsmuir.

The next four owners were members of the New York Yacht Club. In 1920, the yacht was sold to Arthur Meeker and renamed the VICTORIA; from 1922 to 1924 the yacht belonged to James Shewan and renamed the PATRICIA; from 1926 to 1928 the yacht belonged to Russell A. Alger and was renamed the LAURENTIAN; from 1929 to 1936  the yacht belonged to George W. Childs Drexel and was renamed the ALCEDO.

From 1937 to 1939 the yacht belonged to John C. Sword of Britain and was renamed the VALENA; at the outbreak of WW2, the yacht was requisitioned by the Admiralty, named HMS VALENA and used to hunt enemy submarines until 1945. In 2013 orders issued to Lieutenant Alexander North Hardy, the skipper of VALENA during WW2, were uncovered, outlining the yacht's involvement in Operation Neptune, the first portion of the D-Day invasion. More information can be found here: 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/britain-at-war/10105879/Top-Secret-D-Day-orders-emerge-69-years-after-they-should-have-been-destroyed.html

VALENA was returned to Mr. Sword and then sold to Pontos Cia de Nav (J. Lavanos), Panama and used for passenger service in the Mediterranean. The yacht was scrapped at La Spezia, Italy on December 30, 1951.  

An aerial photograph of the HMS Valena can be seen here: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205017805