USS Aphrodite

Aphrodite in 1899
History
Name
  • 1899: Aphrodite
  • 1930: Aetos
  • 1933: Macedonia
Namesake
Owner
Port of registry
BuilderBath Iron Works, Bath, ME
Cost$450,000
Yard number25
Laid downJune 1898
Launched1 December 1898
Sponsored byMiss Vivien Scott
CompletedMarch 1899
Acquiredfor US Navy, 11 May 1917
Commissionedto US Navy, 5 June 1917
Decommissionedfrom US Navy, 12 July 1919
Identification
FateSunk by aircraft, April 1941
General characteristics
Type
Tonnage
Length
  • 344 ft (105 m) overall with bowsprit
  • 303 ft (92 m) overall, hull
  • 260 ft 4 in (79.3 m) waterline
Beam35.6 ft (10.9 m) molded
Draft
  • 16 ft (4.9 m) loaded (yacht)
  • about 17 ft 6 in (5.33 m) aft (Navy)
Depth20.1 ft (6.1 m)
Installed power294 NHP
Propulsion
Sail plan
  • barque (1899–1910)
  • 17,000 sq ft (1,579.4 m2) sail
Speed15 kn (28 km/h)
Complementin US Navy, 68
Armament

Aphrodite was a steam yacht that was launched in 1898. When completed in 1899 she was the largest steam yacht yet built in the US (1148 tons). In 1917 she was commissioned into the United States Navy as the patrol vessel USS Aphrodite (SP-135). She was based in France from 1917 to 1918; in England from 1918 to 1919; and then returned to her private owner.

In 1927 she was sold to Greek owners, and by 1930 she had been converted into a passenger and cargo merchant ship and renamed Aetos. In 1933 her owners renamed her Macedonia. In 1941 a German air attack sank her during the invasion of Greece.