USS Hilo

	USS Hilo
History
United States
Name	Caroline
Owner	Eldridge R. Johnson
Builder	Bath Iron Works
Yard number	141
Laid down	1 September 1930
Launched	18 July 1931
Completed	28 September 1931 (Delivered)
Identification	Official number: 231135; Signal & radio call letters: WDEC;
Fate	Sold in 1938
General characteristics (Caroline)
Type	Motor yacht
Tonnage	1,839 GRT
Length	278 ft 11 in (85.01 m)
Beam	38 ft 3 in (11.66 m)
Draft	17 ft (5.2 m)
Depth	22.7 ft (6.9 m)
Installed power	2 × 150 kW (200 hp) Diesel electric generators; 1 × 50 kW (67 hp) Diesel electric generators;
Propulsion	2 × 1,500 shp (1,100 kW) Cooper-Bessemer diesel engines; 2 screws;
Speed	14.5 knots (16.7 mph; 26.9 km/h)
Range	25,000 nautical miles (29,000 mi; 46,000 km)
Crew	42
United States
Name	Moana
Owner	William B. Leeds
Acquired	1938
Fate	Acquired by the US Navy, 28 November 1941
United States
Name	USS Hilo
Namesake	Hilo, Hawaii
Acquired	28 November 1941
Commissioned	11 June 1942
Decommissioned	3 March 1946
Stricken	20 March 1946
Identification	Callsign: NAVZ
Fate	Sold to Pillsbury & Martingnoni, San Francisco, California on 1 July 1946; Scrapped 1958;
General characteristics (USS Hilo)
Type	Motor torpedo boat tender
Displacement	2,350 long tons (2,390 t)
Length	278 ft 11 in (85.01 m)
Beam	38 ft 3 in (11.66 m)
Draft	17 ft (5.2 m)
Installed power	2 × 150 kW (200 hp) Diesel electric generators; 1 × 50 kW (67 hp) Diesel electric generators;
Propulsion	2 × 1,500 shp (1,100 kW) Cooper-Bessemer diesel engines; 2 screws;
Speed	14.5 knots (16.7 mph; 26.9 km/h)
Complement	105 officers and enlisted
Armament	1 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 cal dual purpose gun

USS Hilo (AGP-2) was a converted yacht that saw service as a motor torpedo boat tender in the United States Navy during World War II. It was originally the yacht Caroline built for Eldridge R. Johnson and launched 18 July 1931. Caroline was at the time the second largest yacht and largest American built Diesel yacht. It was built with a laboratory as well as palatial quarters and was loaned and equipped by Johnson for the Johnson-Smithsonian Deep-Sea Expedition of 1933 that explored the Puerto Rico Trench. The yacht was sold in 1938 to William B. Leeds and renamed Moana replacing an earlier Leeds yacht of the same name.

It was purchased by the US Navy in 1941 and commissioned as USS Hilo, first designated as Patrol Gunboat (PG) 58 and then functioning and designated as Motor Torpedo Boat Tender (AGP) 2 supporting the torpedo boats for the duration of World War II.