Eleanor (1894 ship)
Yacht Eleanor | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Name |
|
| Owner |
|
| Builder | Bath Iron Works |
| Cost | $300,000 |
| Launched | 7 May 1894 |
| Identification |
|
| Greece | |
| Name | Athinai |
| Owner |
|
| Home port | Piraeus |
| Identification | Signal Letters: J.D.M.N. |
| Fate | Sunk by German aircraft, April 1941 |
| General characteristics as built in 1894 | |
| Tonnage | 804 gross tons, 402 net tons |
| Displacement | 1,136 tons |
| Length | 240 ft (73 m) |
| Beam | 32 ft (9.8 m) |
| Draft | 14 ft 2 in (4.32 m) |
| Installed power | 1,000 Horsepower steam engine |
| Propulsion | Propeller |
| Sail plan | Barque |
| Speed | 14.5 knots |
Eleanor was the largest yacht ever built in the United States when she was launched in 1894. The people who owned, chartered, and sailed aboard her during her career as a yacht were among the richest and most powerful in the United States.
The ship was leased to the United States Navy during World War I. She was commissioned as the U.S.S Harvard. She was sent to the coast of France where she patrolled the approaches to ports receiving troops and supplies from America. While she saw no combat, she did rescue dozens of men from ships sunk by U-boats, and supervised German compliance with the naval terms of the surrender after the armistice.
After the war she was converted into a passenger ship and sailed among the Greek islands. Just after the start of the German invasion of Greece in April 1941 she was sunk by the Luftwaffe at Itea, Greece.