USS Rutoma

	USS Rutoma photographed over the stern of a small boat in 1917 or 1918
History
United States
Name	USS Rutoma
Namesake	Previous name retained
Builder	Seabury Company, Morris Heights, New York
Completed	1910
Acquired	18 April 1917
Commissioned	26 April 1917
Fate	Sunk in collision 21 February 1919; Raised 22 February 1919; Sold 16 September 1919;
Notes	Operated as private motorboat Manchonac and Rutoma 1910-1917, and as a private motorboat from 1919
General characteristics
Type	Patrol vessel
Displacement	29 tons
Length	68 ft (21 m) or 78 ft (24 m)
Beam	12 ft (3.7 m)
Draft	3 ft 6 in (1.07 m)
Depth of hold	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Speed	12 knots
Complement	9
Armament	1 × 1-pounder gun; 2 × machine guns;

USS Rutoma (SP-78) was an armed motorboat that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1919.

Rutoma was built as the private motorboat Manchonac in 1910 by the Seabury Company at Morris Heights, New York. She had been renamed Rutoma by the time the U.S. Navy purchased her from her owner, Graham T. Thompson of New Haven, Connecticut, on 18 April 1917 for World War I service as a patrol boat. She was commissioned on 26 April 1917 as USS Rutoma(SP-78).

Rutoma patrolled in the 3rd Naval District during 1917 and 1918, operating in Long Island Sound and eastward to New Haven. Transferred to New York City at the end of the war, Rutoma was rammed and sunk on 21 February 1919^[3] by the tug SS John L. Lewis in the East River off Pier No. 6 in New York City.

Rutoma was raised on 22 February 1919 by salvage crews from the salvage tug USS Resolute (SP-1309). She subsequently was sold on 16 September 1919 to Reinhard Hall of Brooklyn, New York, and returned to civilian use, remaining on mercantile registers into the 1930s.

Notes

^ Per the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/r10/rutoma.htm) and NavSource Online (at http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/170078.htm)
^ Per the U.S. Naval Historical Center Selected Library of Online Images (at http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-r/sp78.htm)
^ Per the U.S. Naval Historical Center Selected Library of Online Images (at http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-r/sp78.htm). The statement in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/r10/rutoma.htm) that she sank on 21 February 1918 clearly is a typographical error, as her sinking clearly occurred after World War I ended on 11 November 1918.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
Department of the Navy: Naval Historical Center: Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships: USS Rutoma (SP-78), 1917-1919. Previously a civilian motor boat named Manchonak and Rutoma.
NavSource Online: Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive Rutoma (SP 78)

[1] Per the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/r10/rutoma.htm) and NavSource Online (at http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/170078.htm)

[2] Per the U.S. Naval Historical Center Selected Library of Online Images (at http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-r/sp78.htm)

[3] Per the U.S. Naval Historical Center Selected Library of Online Images (at http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-r/sp78.htm). The statement in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/r10/rutoma.htm) that she sank on 21 February 1918 clearly is a typographical error, as her sinking clearly occurred after World War I ended on 11 November 1918.

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