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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo #  NH 102217:  Steam Yacht Sialia underway prior to her World War I Navy service


Online Library of Selected Images:
-- CIVILIAN SHIPS --

Sialia (American Steam Yacht, 1914).
Was USS Sialia (SP-543) in 1917-1920

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.

Photo #: NH 102217

Sialia
(American Steam Yacht, 1914)

Underway prior to her World War I Navy service.
This yacht, purchased by the Navy from Henry Ford, was delivered on 10 June 1917 and commissioned on 30 June 1917 as USS Sialia (SP-543). She was loaned to the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey from 10 June 1919 to 15 March 1920 and sold back to Henry Ford on 12 April 1920.

The original print is in National Archives' Record Group 19-LCM.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 77KB; 740 x 525 pixels

 


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.
This photo is mounted on the "SP" data card for USS Sialia (SP-543).


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 10 July 2003