| History | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name: | USS Pocomoke, later USS SP-571 |
| Namesake: |
|
| Builder: | Brewster Brothers, Baltimore, Maryland |
| Commissioned: | 24 April 1917 |
| Fate: | Returned to owner 22 October 1918 |
| Notes: | Operated as civilian freight boat Pocomoke until 1917 and from 1918 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Patrol vessel |
| Tonnage: | 23 tons |
| Length: | 64 ft 7 in (19.69 m) |
| Beam: | 20 ft 3 in (6.17 m) |
| Draft: | 5 ft (1.5 m) |
| Armament: | 1 × 1-pounder gun |
The first USS Pocomoke (SP-571), later USS SP-571, was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1918.
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most capable navy in the world and it has been estimated that in terms of tonnage of its active battle fleet alone, it is larger than the next 13 navies combined, which includes 11 U.S. allies or partner nations. with the highest combined battle fleet tonnage and the world's largest aircraft carrier fleet, with eleven in service, and two new carriers under construction. With 319,421 personnel on active duty and 99,616 in the Ready Reserve, the Navy is the third largest of the service branches. It has 282 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of March 2018, making it the second-largest air force in the world, after the United States Air Force.
Pocomoke was built as a civilian freight boat of the same name by Brewster Brothers at Baltimore, Maryland. The U.S. Navy acquired her from her owner, the Fish Commission of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in 1917 for World War I service as a patrol vessel. She was commissioned on 24 April 1917 as USS Pocomoke (SP-571).
In general, a civilian is "a person who is not a member of the military or of a police or firefighting force". The definition distinguishes from persons whose duties involves risking their lives to protect the public at large from hazardous situations such as terrorism, riots, conflagrations, or wars. It also does not include "criminals" in the category, as authorities and the media wants to distinguish between those who are law-abiding and those who are not.
Maryland is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east. The state's largest city is Baltimore, and its capital is Annapolis. Among its occasional nicknames are Old Line State, the Free State, and the Chesapeake Bay State. It is named after the English queen Henrietta Maria, known in England as Queen Mary.
World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.
Pocomoke operated on section patrol duty for the rest of World War I.
A Section Patrol craft was a civilian vessel registered by the United States Navy for potential wartime service before, during, and shortly after World War I.
The Navy returned Pocomoke to the Fish Commission on 22 October 1918.
Pocomoke should not be confused with USS Pocomoke (SP-265), a minesweeper also in commission during World War I.
The second USS Pocomoke (SP-265), later YT-43, was a United States Navy minesweeper and tug commissioned in 1917 and sold in 1922.
