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NavSource Online:
Section Patrol Craft Photo Archive

USAS Q-108
ex-USPHS Bailhache
ex-Olympic (SP 260)

Moby Dick call sign (1948):
King - Dog - Sugar - Easy


Olympic served the U. S. Navy, the Public Health Service and the U.S. Army

Patrol Yacht:

  • Built in 1914 by Ed W. Heath, Seattle, Washington
  • Acquired by the Navy 15 May 1917
  • Commissioned USS Olympic (SP 260), 9 June 1917
  • Transferred to the Public Health Service 13 September 1919
  • Struck from the Navy Register 30 September 1919
  • Renamed Bailhache 12 November 1919 after Preston H. Bailhache, MD, of the U.S. Marine Hospital Service and operated out of Port Townsend, WA as a Boarding Vessel
  • Sold 10 February 1934 to H. W. McCurdy of Seattle and renamed Moby Dick
  • Acquired in 1941 by S. Catherine McCurdy of Port Townsend, WA as the yacht Moby Dick
  • Acquired in December 1941 by the Army and named Q-108 and served until 1945
  • Returned to her previous owner, S. Catherine McCurdy of Port Townsend in 1946
  • Acquired in 1949 by Michael R. Uttecht of King Cove, AK as the freighter Moby Dick
  • She went through a series of owners in the Pacific NW, eventually becoming a passenger vessel
  • Sank at her moorings on 24 May 1989, later raised and placed in storage at Everett, WA and later scrapped.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 28.4 t.
    1920 - 40 t.
    1948 - 38 t.
  • Length 64'
    1920 - 64.9'
    1948 - 61.7'
  • Beam 13' 6"
    1920 - 13'
    1948 - 13.8'
  • Draft 4' 3"
    1920 - 5.6'
    1948 - 6.4'
  • Speed 9.4 kts.
  • Complement 18
    1948 - One
    1950 - Eight
  • Armament: One 3-pounder and two machine guns
  • Propulsion: One 55hp 3-cylinder Standard gasoline engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Olympic 140k Moby Dickprior to World War II
    Photos from Classic Yacht Association website    		 David Wright
    Olympic 98k
    Commanding Officers
    01Chief Boatswain's Mate Charles L. Sheely , USN9 June 1917
    02Boatswain Rex L. Cornell, USNRF1918 - 1919
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    View the Olympic (SP 260)
    DANFS history entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command website
    (This DANFS entry does not accurately reflect Olympic's history)
    Back to the Main Photo Index Back to the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Ship Index Back to the Section Patrol Craft (SP) Photo Index Back to the U.S. Army Tenders/Boats/Launches Index
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    This page created by Joseph M. Radigan and maintained by David Wright
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