Today's classic warship, USS Aloha (SP-317)
Aloha class steam yacht
Displacement. 659 t.
Lenght. 218'
Beam. 35'6"Draft. 18'
Complement. 86
Armament. 2 4", 2 3"
Aloha, a bark-rigged steam yacht, was built in 1910 at Quincy, Massachusetts. She cruised extensively in northern European and Mediterranean waters until the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 put an end to such pleasurable activities. When the United States entered the conflict in April 1917 she was leased to the U.S. Navy, which placed her in commission as USS Aloha (SP-317). She was commissioned on 5 June 1917, Lieutenant H. R. Swift, USNRF, in command.
She served for the rest of the war as flagship to the Inspector of Naval Districts, East Coast, Rear Admiral Cameron Winslow, supporting his extensive travels as he carried out his mission of ensuring the effectiveness of the Navy's shore facilities from Louisiana to New England.
USS Aloha was decommissioned in late January 1919 and returned to her owner. She voyaged around the World in 1921-1922 and visited Europe and the Mediterranean several times during 1925-1930. Following nearly three decades of peacetime pleasure cruising and wartime inspection duty, Aloha was scrapped in 1938.