USS Wakiva II (SP-160)
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | USS Wakiva II |
| Namesake: | Former owner's name retained upon commissioning |
| Builder: | Ramage and Ferguson, Leith |
| Launched: | 3 February 1907 |
| Acquired: | 20 July 1917 |
| Commissioned: | 6 August 1917 |
| Fate: | Sunk in collision 22 May 1918 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | armed yacht |
| Displacement: | 853 t |
| Length: | 239 ft 6 in (73.00 m) |
| Beam: | 30 ft 6 in (9.30 m) |
| Draft: | 15 ft 0 in (4.57 m) mean |
| Propulsion: | Steam |
| Speed: | 15 knots (28 km/h) |
| Armament: |
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USS Wakiva II (SP-160), often referred to as USS Wakiva, was an armed yacht that served in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1918 and saw combat in World War I. She was originally the yacht SS Wakiva II built for Lamon V. Harkness in Scotland.
Wakiva II served as a convoy escort out of Brest, France, and had several encounters with German submarines. The ship received credit for a "probably seriously damaged" submarine in November 1917. While escorting a convoy in May 1918 in fog, Wakiva II was accidentally rammed and sunk by USS Wabash (ID-1824). Two men aboard Wakiva II were lost in the collision and sinking.
Wakiva II was a steel-hulled steam yacht built in the United Kingdom at Leith, Scotland, by Ramage and Ferguson for Lamon V. Harkness. She was launched on 3 February 1907, and served first Lamon Harkness and then his son Harry in the days before World War I. While owned by the Harkness family, Wakiva II ranged from the North Sea to the Netherlands East Indies.
After the United States entered World War I, the United States Navy acquired Wakiva II on 20 July 1917 and commissioned her as USS Wakiva II on 6 August 1917 at the Boston Navy Yard in Boston, Massachusetts, Lieutenant Commander Thomas R. Kurtz in command. While shipwrights were still laboring to complete the conversion of the erstwhile pleasure craft to a man-of-war for "distant service," Captain Thomas P. Magruder made Wakiva II his flagship as Commander, Squadron Four, Patrol Force, on 18 August 1917.
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