The first USS Kiowa (SP-711), later USS SP-711, was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1918.
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 MayDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/k4/kiowa-i.htm and NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive Kiowa (SP 711). or 18 JuneDepartment of the Navy Naval History and Heritage Command Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships: USS Kiowa (SP-711), 1917-1919. Later renamed SP-711. 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 , which had been commissioned in February 1918.
SP-711 was decommissioned on 24 November 1918 and returned to Marwell on 28 March 1919.
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References
Department of the Navy Naval History and Heritage Command Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships: USS Kiowa (SP-711), 1917-1919. Later renamed SP-711