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Identification Numbered Vessel Photo Archive

Rondo (ID 2488)

Animal Transport:

  • Built in 1914 by Rotterdam DroogDock Maatsehappij, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
  • Acquired by the Navy 21 March 1918
  • Commissioned 29 March 1918
  • Struck from the Navy Register 13 June 1919
  • Decommissioned 21 June 1919 at Amsterdam, Holland and returned to her owner, the Nederland Stoomvaart Maatsehappij
  • Scrapped in 1933.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 15,300 t.
  • Length 468'
  • Beam 55' 11"
  • Draft 28' 6"
  • Depth of hold 35' 7"
  • Speed 12 kts.
  • Complement 70
  • Armament: One 5"/51 and one 3"/50 mount
  • Propulsion: Six single ended boilers, one 4,300hp vertical triple expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Rondo 55k In port, possibly when inspected by the Third Naval District on 25 March 1918
    U.S. Navy photo NH 103035    		 Naval Historical Center
    Rondo 97k Ships at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia circa October 1918. They are (from left to right): USS Paul Jones (Destroyer No. 10); USS Katrina Luckenbach (ID 3020); and Rondo. All are painted in pattern camouflage
    Collection of Arthur J. Rozett
    U.S. Navy photo NH 102950
    Rondo 121k Ships at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia circa October 1918. They are (from left to right): USS Paul Jones (Destroyer No. 10); USS Katrina Luckenbach (ID 3020); and Rondo. All three are wearing pattern camouflage. A steam launch from USS Indiana (Battleship No. 1) is in the center foreground. U.S. Navy Divers Float No. 2 is in the left foreground. All are painted in pattern camouflage
    Collection of Arthur J. Rozett
    U.S. Navy photo NH 102950
    Rondo 135k Rondo possibly shown at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, in late 1918 outboard of USS Katrina Luckenbach (ID 3020). Note that the two ships are moored bow to stern instead of bow to bow and that the starboard side pattern camouflage of Rondo is visible
    Collection of John Lynch
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo from Shipscribe.com    		 Robert Hurst
    Rondo 157k Rondo taken ca. late 1918 from her aft gun platform
    Collection of John Lynch
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo from Shipscribe.com
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: The second Rondo was launched during 1914 by Rotterdam DroogDock Maatsehappij as a steel freighter for the Nederland Stoomvaart Maatsehappij and interned during World War I at New York. She was seized during March 1918 by customs officials along with 88 other Dutch ships, 31 of which entered U.S. naval service. Rondo was commissioned 28 March 1918 for service in the Naval Overseas Transportation Service Lt. Comdr. Paul C. Grening, USNRF, in command.

    Departing New York 12 April 1918, Rondo steamed to Norfolk to load Army supplies for U.S. forces in Europe. Rondo subsequently made two round-trip convoy voyages across the Atlantic between 7 May and 5 September 1918, unloading cargo at La Pallice, Verdon, and Bordeaux, France.

    Rondo was fitted for service as a horse transport during September 1918 under U.S. Shipping Board account. As an animal transport, she made one voyage to Montevideo, Uruguay, arriving 16 February 1919. Returning northward to Boston to unload her cargo, Rondo was later assigned duty carrying food to Europe. After engine trouble once forced her back into port, Rondo reached Falmouth, England, 28 May 1919. Steaming on to Amsterdam, Rondo was decommissioned and returned to her owner 21 June 1919. Rondo remained in Nederland Stoomvaart Maatsehappij service until scrapped during 1933.

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