Name USRC Tahoma Commissioned 25 March 1909 Launched 10 October 1908 Weight 1,234 tons | Cost $225,000 (USD) Out of service 20 September 1914 Length 58 m | |
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Namesake Salishan Native American word meaning "snow peak" and a principal mountain in the Cascades. Homeport Port Townsend, Washington Builder New York Shipbuilding Corporation | ||
USRC Tahoma, was a steel-hull flush deck cutter that served in the United States Revenue Cutter Service from 1909 to 1914 with the Bering Sea Patrol and was the sister ship to the USRC Yamacraw.
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Commissioning and trip to homeport
USRC Tahoma was launched on 10 October 1908 by New York Shipbuilding at Camden, New Jersey. She was commissioned into the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service after outfitting at Arundel Cove, Maryland on 25 March 1909]. Since she was to serve with the Bering Sea Patrol, she made the trip across the Atlantic Ocean and made a coaling stop at the Azores. While visiting Gibraltar she received orders from the Treasury Department to steam to Alexandrette, Ottoman Empire to help calm American expatriate nerves during local civil unrest. Tahoma remained off the Turkish coast for 13 days before resuming a course for the Suez Canal. After making port calls at several locations in the Pacific Ocean she arrived at Port Townsend, Washington on 23 August 1909.
Bering Sea Patrol and sinking
The Tahoma participated in the Bering Sea Patrol along the Alaskan coast each summer enforcing fisheries regulations and assisting with search and rescue missions. During winter months she would homeport at Port Townsend and refit. On 20 September 1914 she struck an uncharted reef in the Aleutians and sank. All hands managed to get off the sinking ship safely in boats and were picked up by the merchant steamer Cordova and the survey ship Patterson.