From: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol.V - p 166

Orchid

Any plant of the family Orchidaceae. A former Coast Guard name retained.

(WAGL-240: dp. 677; 1. 174'; b. 30'; dr. 13'; s. 12 k.; cpl. 33)

Orchid was built in 1908 by American Brown Boveri Electrical Corp., Camden, N. J. as a Lighthouse Service tender. Assigned permanent station at Baltimore, Md., she operated through most of her career in Chesapeake Bay waters. She performed tender operations out of Baltimore through 1935, when she transferred to Norfolk, Va.

When the Lighthouse Service became part of the Coast Guard in 1939, Orchid was one of the older service craft that made the change. She continued active service as a buoy tender out of Norfolk through the war. In early December 1945 she decommissioned and was sold to the Philippine government.