Story
This air base rescue boat was built in 1944 by Fellows & Stewart Inc. in Wilmington, CA.
Historical Notes
George Schneider (Email to Nauticapedia 04/07/2025) stated "San Diego has a big sportfishing fleet, in the West Coast definition of the word. Many are recent vessels built of steel, aluminum, and fiberglass. But still competitive within the fleet are wooden vessels, and along with those built in the twilight of the wooden boat age, there are several honorable WWII Veterans. Maybe the one getting the most attention is the MALIHINI (originally PT 657) which I've covered a couple times before. Also competing are two 85-foor air base rescue boats, commonly called AVR's or ASR's. RANGER 85 (ex Army P 515) splits her time between San Diego and other Southern California ports. But San Diego's own is named PACIFIC QUEEN (278349, ex P 516), next in line from the Fellows & Stewart Shipyard in Wilmington CA. Both were completed in 1944. Among surplus boats, AVR's and PT boats were similar in size, but the AVR's were more popular for conversion to civilian use because they had full head-room below decks. It would appear PACIFIC QUEEN had fish onboard at the time of this photo."
Owners & Masters
In 1944 she was owned by the United States Army.
In 2025 she was owned by USA interests.
References
George Schneider (Email to Nauticapedia 04/07/2025)
