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NavSource Online:
Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

SP-711
ex-Kiowa (SP 711)

Motorboat:

  • Built in 1915 by George Lawley and Sons, Neponset, MA
  • Acquired by the Navy 5 May 1917
  • Delivered to the Navy 18 May 1917
  • Commissioned USS Kiowa (SP 711), 14 May 1917
    Ships' Date U.S. Naval Vessels dated 1 November 1918 lists In service date as 18 June 1917
  • Renamed SP-711
  • Decommissioned and struck from the Navy Register 30 November 1918
  • Returned to her owner 28 March 1919
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Length 35'
  • Beam 9'
  • Draft 3' 3"
  • Speed 8.6 kts.
  • Complement: Five
  • Armament: One .30 cal. machine gun
  • Propulsion: One 32hp 4-cylinder Jager gasoline engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Kiowa 87k Photographed at the time of her acquisition by the Navy in May 1917. Behind Kiowa is a Herreshoff 62' 4" motorboat of the Apache (SP-729) type and several other Section Patrol boats. USS Tonopah (Monitor No. 8) is on the other side of the pier, with her superstructure visible.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 101991    		 Naval Historical Center
    Alacrity 83k Lockwood's Basin, Boston, Massachusetts. View of the basin looking down the pier, taken by Alton M. Blackinton, Boston, circa 1918, showing USS Moosehead (ID 2047) in the center and section patrol boats. USS Alacrity (SP-206) is at the far left. The patrol boats in the left center foreground are (from left to right): USS Kiowa (SP-711); USS Skink (SP-605); unidentified; USS Whistler (SP-785); and USS Lynx II (SP-730).
    U.S. Navy photo NH 42147
    Whistler 85k In Lockwood's Basin, Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1918, with USS Moosehead (ID 2047) on the left and four patrol boats at right. The latter are (from outboard): USS Kiowa (SP-711), USS Skink (SP-605), USS Whistler (SP-784) and USS Lynx II (SP-730)
    Photographed by Alton M. Blackinton, Boston
    U.S. Navy photo NH 45268
    Commanding Officers
    ??Boatswain's Mate Third Class Henry Eldredge Sweet, USNRF27 May 1918
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships:

    Kiowa

    A tribe of warlike and predatory American Indians, who at one time resided in Missouri. They later moved southward and often joined the Comanches in raids on other tribes and American settlers. Some members of the tribe still reside on a reservation in Oklahoma.

    The first Kiowa (SP-711) was built 1915 by Lawley & Son Corp., Boston, Mass.; acquired by the Navy 5 May 1917, from Mr. Frank A Marwell; and placed in service 14 May for Harbor Patrol duty in the 1st Naval District. Kiowa operated out of Boston in this capacity until placed out of service 24 November 1918. She was returned to her owner 28 March 1919.

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