USS Bobylu (SP-1513)

Bobylu as a civilian motorboat sometime between 1915 and 1917
History
United States
Name: USS Bobylu
Namesake: Previous name retained
Builder: Bob Willis, Davis, North Carolina
Completed: 1915
Acquired: 22 October 1917
Commissioned: 22 October 1917
Decommissioned: 31 December 1918
Fate: Returned to owners 31 December 1918[1] or 8 January 1919[2]
Notes: Operated as civilian motorboat Bobylu 1915-1917 and from 1919
General characteristics
Type: Patrol vessel
Displacement: 6 tons
Length: 35 ft 10 in (10.92 m)
Beam: 10 ft 8 in (3.25 m)[3]
Draft: 2 ft 2 in (0.66 m) (aft)
Speed: See note[4]
Complement: 4

USS Bobylu (SP-1513) was an motorboat that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1918.

USS Bobylu during World War I.

Bobylu was built as a civilian motorboat in 1915 by Bob Willis in Davis, North Carolina. On 15 October 1917, the 5th Naval District inspected her for U.S. Navy use as a patrol boat during World War I, and the Navy ordered her to be acquired the same day. Her owners, the North Carolina Fisheries Commission, delivered her to the Navy at Norfolk, Virginia, on 22 October 1917 for use under a free lease, and she was commissioned the same day as USS Bobylu (SP-1513).

Bobylu was assigned to "general service" during the war, and operated in the 5th Naval District.

On 26 September 1918, the Navy ordered Bobylu returned to the Fisheries Commission. She was decommissioned on 31 December 1918 and returned to the Commission either that day[5] or on 8 January 1919.[6]

Notes

  1. ↑ Per the Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images (at http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-b/id1513.htm) and NavSource Online (at http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/171513.htm)
  2. ↑ Per the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b7/bobylu-i.htm)
  3. ↑ The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b7/bobylu-i.htm) gives a beam of "10 feet 18 inches", likely a typographical error for 10 feet 8 inches.
  4. ↑ According to the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b7/bobylu-i.htm), the boat's speed was "7 miles per hour", a measurement of speed in statute miles per hour not generally used for boats or ships and perhaps a typographical error for 7 knots. If the speed really is given in statute miles per hour, the equivalent in knots is 6.1.
  5. ↑ Per the Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images (at http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-b/id1513.htm) and NavSource Online (at http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/171513.htm)
  6. ↑ Per the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b7/bobylu-i.htm)

References

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