 USS Rondo during World War I. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name: |
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| Namesake: |
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| Builder: | Rhode River Shipbuilding Company, Rhode River, Maryland |
| Completed: | 1915 |
| Acquired: | 16 May 1917 |
| Commissioned: | 14 November 1917 |
| Struck: | 4 October 1919 |
| Fate: | Wrecked 9 September 1919 |
| Notes: | Operated as private motorboat Rondo 1915-1917 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Patrol vessel |
| Tonnage: | 20 tons |
| Length: | 50 ft (15 m) |
| Beam: | 15 ft (4.6 m) |
| Draft: | 3 ft 3 in (0.99 m) |
| Speed: | 9 knots |
| Complement: | 6 |
| Armament: |
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The first USS Rondo (SP-90), later USS SP-90, was an armed motorboat that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919.
A motorboat, speedboat, or powerboat is a boat which is powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gearbox and the propeller in one portable unit.
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.
Rondo was a civilian motorboat built in 1915 by the Rhode River Shipbuilding Company on the Rhode River in Maryland. The U.S. Navy acquired her on 16 May 1917 for World War I service as a patrol boat, and commissioned as USS Rondo (SP-90) on 14 November 1917 with Chief Boatswain's Mate R. N. Denny in command.
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.
The Rhode River is a 3-mile-long (5 km) tidal tributary of the West River in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. It is south of the South River.
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.
Rondo served on patrol duty in Florida waters, operating out of Key West, Marathon, Long Key, and Bahia Honda Viaduct at Bahia Honda Key, through the end of the war. In April 1918, she was renamed USS SP-90, presumably to avoid confusion with the cargo ship USS Rondo (ID-2488), which was commissioned the previous month.
Florida is the southernmost contiguous state in the United States. The state is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and to the south by the Straits of Florida. Florida is the 22nd-most extensive, the 3rd-most populous, and the 8th-most densely populated of the U.S. states. Jacksonville is the most populous municipality in the state and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. The Miami metropolitan area is Florida's most populous urban area. Tallahassee is the state's capital.
Marathon is a city spread over Knight's Key, Boot Key, Key Vaca, Fat Deer Key, Long Point Key, Crawl Key and Grassy Key islands in the middle of the Florida Keys, in Monroe County, Florida, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 10,255. As of 2014, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau was 8,708.
Bahia Honda is an island in the lower Florida Keys.
While anchored in North Beach Basin at Key West on 9 September 1919, SP-90 was among eight patrol boats completely destroyed by a hurricane. All recovered wreckage from SP-90 and the other seven boats was burned or turned into stores.
SP-90 was stricken from the Navy List on 4 October 1919.
A Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a country.
