Tybee, 1895
AB-15
An island off the coast of Georgia.
Type/Rig/Class: Steam launch
Builder: J. H. Dialogue, Camden, New Jersey
Length: 67'
Beam: 11' 8"
Draft: 5'
Displacement: 28 tons
Cost: $11, 590
Commissioned: 19 November 1895
Decommissioned: 23 June 1930 (condemned)
Disposition: Sold
Machinery: Vertical, inverted cylinder, compound-expansion steam engine; 200-psi
Performance & Endurance:
Max:
Cruising:
Complement: 5
Armament: None?
History:
The Tybee was a 28-ton steam launch built for the United States Revenue Cutter Service. Her hull and machinery were built by J. H. Dialogue and Son, of Camden, New Jersey, for $9,800. Her boiler was delivered and set up in the vessel by Roberts Safety Water Tube Boiler Company for $1,790, the total cost of the launch being $11,590. She was completed late in 1895 and was then delivered to the Revenue Cutter Service on 19 November 1895. Three days later, she sailed for Savannah, Georgia, where, after a voyage which touched at Baltimore, Maryland; Norfolk, Virginia; Beaufort, North Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina. She arrived at Savannah on 21 January 1896.
She conducted local operations at Savannah through the turn of the century and, on occasion, patrolled regattas staged in the Savannah area. After the United States entered World War I on 6 April 1917, Tybee was taken over by the Navy and served on local patrol duties out of Savannah for the duration of hostilities. She was returned to the Treasury Department on 28 August 1919.
Assigned to the gulf division on 11 October 1920, Tybee was subsequently assigned a permanent station at Savannah on 1 January 1923. She lost the name Tybee on 6 November of the same year and was classified and named AB-15. She alternated bases between Norfolk and Savannah for the remainder of her career . She was condemned on 23 June 1930 and sold to D. E. Little of Jacksonville, Florida, on 25 September 1930.
Sources:
Donald Canney. U.S. Coast Guard and Revenue Cutters, 1790-1935. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1995.
U.S. Coast Guard. Record of Movements: Vessels of the United States Coast Guard: 1790 - December 31, 1933. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1934; 1989 (reprint).