Nahma II (S.P. 771)
1917-1919
The Navy retained the name carried by this vessel at the time of her acquisition.
II
(S.P. 771: displacement 2,900; length 319'0"; beam 36'3"; draft 18'6"; complement 162; armament 2 5-inch, 2 3-inch, 2 machine guns)
The second Nahma was built in 1897 at Greenock, Scotland, by the Clydebank Engine & Shipbuilding Co.; acquired by the Navy on free lease from Mr. Robert W. Goelet on 21 June 1917; assigned the identification number S.P. 771; and commissioned on 27 August 1917, Lt. Cmdr. Ernest Friederick in command.
Soon after fitting out and shakedown, Nahma reported to Gibraltar to join a group of U.S. vessels based there and serving as convoy escorts. With these ships, she escorted vessels in the Mediterranean, as well as between the U.K. and Gibraltar until the end of World War I.
Following the Armistice Nahma remained in the Mediterranean for relief and quasi-diplomatic work. Operating in the Aegean and Black Seas she carried relief supplies to refugee areas; evacuated American nationals, non-combatants, the sick, and the wounded from civil war torn areas of Russia and Turkey; and provided communications services between ports.
Decommissioned at Greenock, Scotland, 19 July 1919, Nahma was returned to her owner.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
17 May 2022
