Oheka II was a private motor yacht built for German-born American investment banker Otto Hermann Kahn by Lürssen in 1927.
Born in 1867 in Mannheim and relocated to the United States in 1893, Otto Hermann Kahn was an American-based investment banker, collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts.
Kahn approached German boatbuilder Lürssen in 1926 to build a high-speed motor launch capable of use on holidays upon both the River Rhine and the North Sea.
Finally, to counter the inefficient tendency of round hulls to "squat" stern-down in the water at high speeds, they counterbalanced it by two measures: The result was a 22.5 metres (74 ft) semi-displacement hull displacing 22 tons, which was wider at the front than the rear, creating an almost perfect high-speed hydrodynamic shape.
[citation needed] In November 1929, Lürssen was given a contract to build a boat to the same basic design as Oheka II, but all metal with two torpedo tubes on the forecastle, and a slightly improved top speed.