 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name: | USS Niagara |
| Builder: | E. A. Fonda, Miami, Florida |
| Launched: | 1915 |
| Acquired: | 5 July 1917 |
| Fate: | Transferred to the United States Lighthouse Service, 29 May 1919 |
 | |
| Name: | USLHT Poinsettia |
| Acquired: | 29 May 1919 |
| Decommissioned: | 21 April 1922 |
| Fate: |
|
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Patrol boat / Lighthouse tender |
| Displacement: | 33 long tons (34 t) |
| Length: | 50 ft (15 m) |
| Beam: | 16 ft (4.9 m) |
| Draft: | 2 ft 9 in (0.84 m) |
| Propulsion: | 50 hp (37 kW) gasoline engine, one shaft |
| Speed: | 10.4 knots (19.3 km/h; 12.0 mph) |
| Complement: | 5 |
| Armament: |
|
USS Niagara (SP-263) was a vessel of the United States Navy during World War I.
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most capable navy in the world and it has been estimated that in terms of tonnage of its active battle fleet alone, it is larger than the next 13 navies combined, which includes 11 U.S. allies or partner nations. with the highest combined battle fleet tonnage and the world's largest aircraft carrier fleet, with eleven in service, and two new carriers under construction. With 319,421 personnel on active duty and 99,616 in the Ready Reserve, the Navy is the third largest of the service branches. It has 282 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of March 2018, making it the second-largest air force in the world, after the United States Air Force.
World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.
Niagara, a yacht built in 1915 by E. A. Fonda of Miami, Florida, was purchased by the United States Navy on 5 July 1917 from General H. M. Creel, of Miami, and was designated USS Niagara (SP-263). The navy redesignated the boat as SP-263 on 11 April 1918, dropping the name Niagara.
After the war, on 29 May 1919, she was transferred to the United States Lighthouse Service, converted into a lighthouse tender and rechristened USLHT Poinsettia. She was assigned to the 7th Lighthouse District in Key West, Florida.
The United States Lighthouse Service, also known as the Bureau of Lighthouses, was the agency of the United States Government and the general lighthouse authority for the United States from the time of its creation in 1910 as the successor of the United States Lighthouse Board until 1939 when it was merged into the United States Coast Guard. It was responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of all lighthouses and lightvessels in the United States.
A lighthouse tender is a ship specifically designed to maintain, support, or tend to lighthouses or lightvessels, providing supplies, fuel, mail, and transportation.
Poinsettia was decommissioned on 21 April 1922 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and was sold. She caught fire and sank on 27 December 1928.
