USS Raazoo

USS Raazoo (SP-508) was a United States Navy patrol vessel in commission from 1917 to 1919.

USS Raazoo (SP-508) during World War I.
History
United States
Name	USS Raazoo
Namesake	Previous name retained
Builder	Robert Jacobs, City Island, the Bronx, New York
Completed	1916
Acquired	2 June 1917
Commissioned	21 July 1917
Fate	Returned to owner 3 May 1919
Notes	Operated as private motorboat Boomerang II and Raazoo 1916-1917 and Raazoo from 1919
General characteristics
Type	Patrol vessel
Tonnage	22 gross register tons
Length	62 ft (19 m)
Beam	10 ft 6 in (3.20 m)
Draft	3 ft (0.91 m)
Speed	27 knots
Complement	9
Armament	1 × 1-pounder gun 1 × machine gun

Raazoo was built as the private pleasure boat Boomerang II in 1916 by Robert Jacobs at City Island in the Bronx, New York. She later was renamed Raazoo.

On 2 June 1917, the U.S. Navy acquired Raazoo under a free lease from her owner, Edward G. Burghard of New York City, for use as a section patrol vessel during World War I. She was commissioned as USS Raazoo (SP-508) on 21 July 1917.

Assigned to Squadron 11, Division 32, of the United States Atlantic Fleet and attached to the 3rd Naval District, Raazoo operated initially as a dispatch boat in the New York Marine Basin. She later served as an experimental ship with Naval Air Station Rockaway and Naval Air Station Montauk Point.

Decommissioned after World War I, Raazoo was returned to Burghard on 3 May 1919.

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 History and Heritage Command Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships: USS Raazoo (SP-508), 1917-1919. Originally a civilian motor boat named Boomerang II and, later, Raazoo.
• Photo gallery of USS Raazoo at NavSource Naval History