USS Bobylu (SP-1513) was a motorboat that served in the United States Navy as a patrol vessel from 1917 to 1918.
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 dayPer 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.net/archives/12/171513.htm) or on 8 January 1919.Per the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (at http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b7/bobylu-i.htm)
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References
Department of the Navy Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships: USS Bobylu (ID # 1513), 1917–1918. Originally the Civilian motor boat Bobylu (1915)