USS Elder Life-ring

USS Elder was an Aloe-class net-laying ship launched June 19, 1941. She was assigned to lay protective anti-submarine nets and protect important harbors during World War II. She first served in Boston, laying and tending nets. She had an extensive naval career laying and tending nets in San Diego, Pearl Harbor, Funafuti, and the Ellis Islands, and many other areas where war operations were taking place. At the war's end, she conducted diving operations in Caballo Bay to recover thousands of silver pesos in Philippine currency that had previously been dumped there to prevent their capture by the Japanese. Elder also participated in the Korean War with operations in Japan, Guam, and along the Pacific Coast. Decommissioned in 1958, USS Elder received one battle star for World War II service because she participated in the Gilbert Islands operation.

This original life ring measures 30 inches in diameter. It's constructed of canvas covered with kapok, painted and ringed with a 3-lay manila rope. 1-inch puncture to canvas, but the kapok is intact and unimpaired as shown in the second photo.