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NavSource Online:
Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

SP-689
ex-USS Uncas (SP 689)

Motorboat:

  • Built in 1917 as Uncas by the Greenport Basin and Construction Co., Greenport, Long Island, NY
  • Acquired by the Navy 28 June 1917
  • Commissioned USS Uncas (SP 689), 6 August 1917
  • Renamed SP-689 in April 1918
  • Returned to her owner 31 December 1918
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 13 t.
  • Length 60'
  • Beam 10'
  • Draft 2' 2"
  • Speed 26 kts.
  • Complement: Eight
  • Armament: One 3-pounder and one .30 cal. machine gun
  • Propulsion: Two 90hp 6-cylinder Dusenberg gasoline engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    SP-689 120k Uncas, or a sister of the same design. Ready for launching, at the Greenport Basin & Construction Company, Greenport, Long Island, New York, circa May-June 1917
    Collection of Robert S. Waters. Donated by Mrs. Alice W. Thomas, 1972
    U.S. Navy photo NH 98344    		 Naval Historical Center
    SP-689 92k Uncas, or a sister patrol boat of the same design. In a yacht basin, probably at Greenport, Long Island, New York, circa Summer 1917, with a sailor washing clothing on
    deck amidships
    Collection of Robert S. Waters. Donated by Mrs. Alice W. Thomas, 1972
    U.S. Navy photo NH 98345
    SP-689 79k Underway just after she was completed, circa June 1917
    Photographed by Morris Rosenfeld, New York
    U.S. Navy photo NH 81565
    SP-689 69k Underway just after she was completed, circa June 1917
    The Sailor standing amidships, with hands on hips, is Robert S. Waters
    Photo by Morris Rosenfeld, New York from the collection of Robert S. Waters
    Donated by Mrs. Alice W. Thomas, 1972
    U.S. Navy photo NH 81566
    SP-689 53k Underway just after she was completed, circa June 1917
    Photo by Morris Rosenfeld, New York from the collection of Robert S. Waters
    Donated by Mrs. Alice W. Thomas, 1972
    U.S. Navy photo NH 81567
    SP-689 106k Sailors on deck amidships, probably at Greenport, Long Island, New York, circa summer 1917. The craft astern, bearing the number "SP 63", is probably Greenport Hull 278, which later became USS Russ (SP-1151). She is definitely not USS Rivalen (SP-63).
    Collection of Robert S. Waters
    Donated by Mrs. Alice W. Thomas, 1972
    U.S. Navy photo NH 98347
    SP-689 102k Fitting out at the Greenport Basin & Construction Company, Greenport, Long Island, New York, circa May-June 1917. A sister boat of the same design is at left
    Collection of Robert S. Waters
    Donated by Mrs. Alice W. Thomas, 1972
    U.S. Navy photo NH 98348
    SP-689 121k The patrol boat's crew on deck, circa summer 1917. The third man from the left (seated on the deck house) is Robert S. Waters
    Collection of Robert S. Waters
    Donated by Mrs. Alice W. Thomas, 1972
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 98349    		 Robert Hurst
    SP-689 62k Two crewmen entertain five ladies on the foredeck, while Uncas was underway in the Long Island Sound area, circa summer 1917
    Collection of Robert S. Waters
    Donated by Mrs. Alice W. Thomas, 1972
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 98350
    SP-689 96k Four Sailors on deck amidships, while Uncas was underway in the Long Island Sound area, circa summer 1917
    Collection of Robert S. Waters
    Donated by Mrs. Alice W. Thomas, 1972
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 98351
    SP-689 105k Several crewmen eating watermelon on deck amidships, circa summer 1917. The gun appears to be an rather elderly circa 1880s 3-pounder, which is what you would expect for a 60-foot wooden-hulled powerboat taken up from civilian service.
    Collection of Robert S. Waters
    Donated by Mrs. Alice W. Thomas, 1972
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 98352    		 Tommy Trampp
    SP-689 126k Deck gun (probably an old-type 3-pounder) mounted amidships, circa summer 1917. Uncas' bell, mast and pilothouse are in the right background. A large sailboat is laid up and housed over in the distance
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 98353    		 Robert Hurst
    Photo added 8 July 2021
    SP-689 92k Crewman moving forward past the after deckhouse, using handrail, while Uncas was underway in the Long Island Sound area, circa summer 1917
    Collection of Robert S. Waters
    Donated by Mrs. Alice W. Thomas, 1972
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 98354    		 Robert Hurst
    SP-689 127k Crewman washing clothing on deck, while Uncas was at Greenport, Long Island, New York, in 1917
    Collection of Robert S. Waters
    Donated by Mrs. Alice W. Thomas, 1972
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 98355    		 Robert Hurst
    Photos added 8 July 2021
    SP-689 86k Robert S. Waters, Wearing foul weather gear in 1917, while he was serving in USS Uncas (SP-689)
    Collection of Robert S. Waters
    Donated by Mrs. Alice W. Thomas, 1972
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 81568
    SP-689 99k Crewman Robert S. Waters wearing foul weather gear on deck amidships, circa summer 1917
    Collection of Robert S. Waters
    Donated by Mrs. Alice W. Thomas, 1972
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 98356
    SP-689 97k Crewman models seaweed atire, on deck amidships, circa summer 1917
    Collection of Robert S. Waters
    Donated by Mrs. Alice W. Thomas, 1972
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 98357
    SP-689 92k Crewman takes a bucket shower, probably on the dock beside the boat, circa summer 1917
    Collection of Robert S. Waters
    Donated by Mrs. Alice W. Thomas, 1972
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 98358
    USS SP-689
    SP-689 84k In port, circa 1918
    U.S. Navy photo NH 81564    		 Naval Historical Center
    SP-689 65k USS Riette (SP-107) in an icy harbor, circa 1917-1919. Partially visible, at left, are Uncas and USS Perfecto (SP-86)
    U.S. Navy photo NH 102163
    Commanding Officers
    01ENS Charles Lane Poor, Jr., USNRF28 June 1917 - 5 July 1917
    02LT Walter Joseph Wortman, USN- Retired as Lieutenant1918
    03Boatswain(T) Henry R. Mousseau, USNRF1919
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: The third Uncas a wooden-hulled motorboat built in 1917 by the Greenport Basin and Construction Co., of Greenport, Long Island, N.Y.-was acquired by the Navy from Charles L. Poor, of New York City, on 28 June 1917, for use during World War I as a section patrol boat. Assigned to the 3d Naval District and given the designation SP-689, the motorboat-operating without a name since a tug named Uncas was already on the Navy list-conducted local patrol operations out of Section Base No. 6 at Bath Beach, N.Y., for the duration of the war. She was returned to her owner on 31 December 1918.
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