 USS Uncas ca. June 1917, just after completion. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name: | USS Uncas |
| Namesake: | Uncas (ca. 1588-ca. 1683), a Mohegan chief (previous name retained) |
| Builder: | Greenport Basin and Construction Company, Greenport, New York |
| Completed: | 1917 |
| Acquired: | 28 June 1917 |
| Commissioned: | 28 June 1917 |
| Renamed: | USS SP-689 April 1918 |
| Fate: | Returned to owner 31 December 1918 |
| Notes: | Operated as private motorboat Uncas 1917 and from 1919 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Patrol vessel |
| Tonnage: | 13 tons |
| Length: | 60 ft (18 m) |
| Beam: | 10 ft (3.0 m) |
| Draft: | 2 ft (0.61 m) (mean) |
| Speed: | 20 knots |
| Complement: | 8 |
| Armament: | 1 × .30-caliber (7.62-millimeter) machine gun |
The third USS Uncas (SP-689), later USS SP-689, was an armed motorboat that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1918.
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.
Uncas was built as a wooden-hulled civilian motorboat in 1917 by the Greenport Basin and Construction Company at Greenport on Long Island, New York. The U.S. Navy acquired her from her owner, Charles L. Poor of New York City, on 28 June 1917 for use as a patrol boat during World War I. She was commissioned the same day as USS Uncas (SP-689).
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin that resists compression. Wood is sometimes defined as only the secondary xylem in the stems of trees, or it is defined more broadly to include the same type of tissue elsewhere such as in the roots of trees or shrubs. In a living tree it performs a support function, enabling woody plants to grow large or to stand up by themselves. It also conveys water and nutrients between the leaves, other growing tissues, and the roots. Wood may also refer to other plant materials with comparable properties, and to material engineered from wood, or wood chips or fiber.
A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. The hull may open at the top, or it may be fully or partially covered with a deck. Atop the deck may be a deckhouse and other superstructures, such as a funnel, derrick, or mast. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.
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.
Assigned to the 3rd Naval District, Uncas conducted local patrol operations in the New York City area out of Section Base No. 6 at Bath Beach, Brooklyn, New York, for the duration of the war. In April 1918, her name was changed to USS SP-689 to avoid confusion with the tug USS Uncas, which was in commission at the same time.
Bath Beach is a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. It is located at the southwestern edge of the borough on Gravesend Bay. The neighborhood borders Bensonhurst and New Utrecht across 86th Street; Dyker Beach Park and Golf Course across 14th Avenue; and Gravesend across Stillwell Avenue.
A tugboat is a type of vessel that maneuvers other vessels by pushing or pulling them either by direct contact or by means of a tow line. Tugs typically move vessels that either are restricted in their ability to maneuver on their own, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal, or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, log rafts, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for their size and strongly built, and some are ocean-going. Some tugboats serve as icebreakers or salvage boats. Early tugboats had steam engines, but today most have diesel engines. Many tugboats have firefighting monitors, allowing them to assist in firefighting, especially in harbors.
SP-689 was returned to her owner on 31 December 1918.
