USS Kiowa (SP-711)

The first USS Kiowa (SP-711), later USS SP-711, was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1918.

USS Kiowa (SP-711) at the time of her acquisition by the U.S. Navy in May 1917.
History
United States
Name	USS Kiowa (1917-1918) USS SP-711 (1918-1919)
Namesake	Kiowa was a previous name retained SP-711 was her section patrol number
Builder	George Lawley & Son, Neponset, Massachusetts
Completed	1915
Acquired	5 May 1917
Commissioned	14 May[1] or 18 June[2] 1917
Decommissioned	24 November 1918
Renamed	USS SP-711 April 1918
Fate	Returned to owner 28 March 1919
Notes	Operated as private motorboat Kiowa 1915-1917 and from 1919
General characteristics
Type	Patrol vessel
Length	35 ft (11 m)
Beam	9 ft (2.7 m)
Draft	3 ft 6 in (1.07 m)
Speed	10 knots
Armament	1 × .30-caliber (7.62-mm) machine gun

U.S. Navy patrol vessels at Lockwood's Basin in Boston, Massachusetts, ca. 1918. Starting from the bottom center, from left to right they are USS Kiowa (SP-711), USS Skink (SP-605), USS Whistler (SP-784), and USS Lynx II (SP-730). The passenger-cargo ship USS Moosehead (ID-2047) is at left.

Kiowa was built as a private motorboat of the same name by George Lawley & Son at Neponset, Massachusetts, in 1915. On 5 May 1917, the U.S. Navy acquired her from her owner, Frank A. Marwell, for use as a section patrol boat during World War I. She was commissioned as USS Kiowa (SP-711) on either 14 May[3] or 18 June[4] 1917.

Assigned to the 1st Naval District in northern New England, Kiowa carried out patrol duties in the Boston, Massachusetts, area for the rest of World War I. In April 1918, she was renamed USS SP-711, presumably to avoid confusion with the cargo ship USS Kiowa (ID-1842), which had been commissioned in February 1918.

SP-711 was decommissioned on 24 November 1918 and returned to Marwell on 28 March 1919.