Sialia, a 552 gross ton steam yacht, was built in 1914 at Wilmington, Delaware. Owned by manufacturer Henry Ford, she was purchased by the Navy for World War I service and commissioned in June 1917 as USS Sialia (SP-543). After initial employment was a patrol vessel in the Philadelphia area, in April 1918 she was sent to Hampton Roads, Virginia, where she spent the next year performing flagship duties for the Cruiser and Transportion Forces. The yacht was transferred to the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in October 1919. Sialia was sold back to Henry Ford in April 1920, a few months after being returned to the Navy.
This page features our only views of the steam yacht Sialia, which was USS Sialia (SP-543) during the World War I era.
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
Note: The Ships' Histories Branch of the Naval Historical
Center holds another photograph of the steam yacht Sialia,
showing her underway prior to her Navy service. It was taken
from off her starboard side, rather toward the bow. The original
print, which bears the label of the New York yacht brokers Gielow
& Orr, is considerably disfigured by writing across its upper
half. |
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 10 July 2003