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UNITED STATES NAVY
TEMPORARY AUXILIARY SHIPS
WORLD WAR I

Photo # NH 44914: USS Orizaba leaving New York for France, 1918

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Orizaba (ID # 1536, later AP-24), 1918-1919 and 1941-1945.
Also served as U.S. Army Transport Orizaba

S.S. Orizaba, a 7652 gross ton (11,293 tons displacement) passenger liner, was built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company. She was requisitioned by the Navy when nearing completion in April 1918 and, in late May, was placed in commission as the U.S. Navy transport Orizaba (ID # 1536). During the remaining months of World War I the ship made six trips across the Atlantic, carrying over 15,000 American service personnel to France. Following the November 1918 Armistice, Orizaba briefly assisted in repatriating former prisoners of war. Early in 1919 she made the first of nine voyages transporting U.S. veterans home from the former combat zone. In early September 1919, after the completion of this important task, Orizaba was decommissioned and transferred to the U.S. Army. She was later returned to her owners and commenced commercial activity.

Early in 1941 Orizaba was purchased by the War Department and rejoined the U.S. Army Transportation Service. She made one voyage as USAT Orizaba, and was then turned over to the Navy, which placed her in commission as USS Orizaba (AP-24) in mid-June 1941. She served actively in the Atlantic area during the next two-and-a-half years, making voyages to, among other places, South Africa, Brazil, Iceland, England, North Africa, and the Caribbean area. Late in 1943 the veteran steamship passed through the Panama Canal to begin operations in the War's other great theater. From then until the Spring of 1945 Orizaba carried out vital transportation missions throughout the vast Pacific Ocean. Decommissioned in April 1945, she was overhauled for transfer abroad under the Lend-Lease program. Recommissioned in mid-July of that year as the Brazilian Navy's Duque de Caxias, she performed transport and training roles until 1960.

This page features, and provides links to, all the views that are available concerning USS Orizaba (ID # 1536, later AP-24) and the U.S. Army Transport Orizaba.

For other images related to this ship, see:

  • Orizaba (ID # 1536) -- On Board and Close Up Views, 1918-1919;
  • Orizaba (ID # 1536 and AP-24) -- Miscellaneous Views; and
  • Duque de Caxias (Brazilian Transport, 1945-1960).


    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.


    The following photographs show USS Orizaba (ID # 1536) during 1918-1919:

    Photo #: NH 101700

    USS Orizaba     (ID # 1536)

    Probably photographed just before completion, at the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, yard of her builder, the William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Company, circa April 1918.
    Note her pattern camouflage and wartime rig of a single mast amidships.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 41KB; 740 x 240 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 44914

    USS Orizaba     (ID # 1536)

    Leaving her New York City slip and going down the North River, bound for France in 1918.
    Note her pattern camouflage scheme.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 110KB; 740 x 605 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 44915

    USS Orizaba     (ID # 1536)

    Leaving her New York City slip and going down the North River, bound for France in 1918.
    Note her pattern camouflage scheme, tugs assisting her, and ferryboat in the left background.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 71KB; 740 x 600 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 76047

    USS Orizaba     (ID # 1536)

    Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken in 1918, showing the ship in port.
    The original image was published in 1918-1919 as one of ten photographs in a "Souvenir Folder" of views concerning USS Orizaba.

    Donation of W.R. Koger, 1972.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 95KB; 740 x 500 pixels

     
    Photo #: None

    USS Orizaba     (ID # 1536)

    Bringing returning troops to New York City during 1919.
    Photographed by E. Muller Jr., New York.

    Source: Shipscribe.

     
    Photo #: NH 102946

    USS Orizaba     (ID # 1536)

    In a U.S. East Coast port, 1919.
    The original photograph is printed on postal card ("AZO") stock.

    Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 76KB; 740 x 485 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 104683

    USS Orizaba     (ID # 1536)

    In port 6 August 1919, probably at Newport News, Virginia.
    Troops on deck are members of the Eleventh Regiment, U.S. Marine Corps.
    Panoramic photograph by the Ralph W. Dickinson Photo Co., Newport News, Virginia.

    Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2007.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 86KB; 1200 x 250 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 103119

    USAT Orizaba     (U.S. Army Transport, 1918)

    Halftone reproduction of a photograph printed in 1941 but showing the ship during her brief service as a U.S. Army Transport in 1919.

    Copied from the book "Troopships of World War II", by Roland W. Charles.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 54KB; 740 x 415 pixels

     
    Photo #: None

    S.S. Orizaba     (American passenger vessel, 1918)

    In commercial service after World War I.

    Source: Shipscribe.

     


    The following photographs show Orizaba as a U.S. Navy ship (AP-24) during the World War II era:

    Photo #: 19-N-25782

    USS Orizaba     (AP-24)

    Off the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 29 October 1941.
    She appears to be painted in Camouflage Measure 12 (Graded System).

    Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

    Online Image: 60KB; 740 x 610 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 80-G-54532

    USS Orizaba     (AP-24), foreground

    Steams in convoy with other troopships and an oiler, in the Atlantic Ocean, 27 July 1943.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 86KB; 740 x 610 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: NH 66876

    USS Orizaba     (AP-24)

    Underway at sea, circa 1944.
    The ship is painted in Camouflage Measure 32, Design 11F.

    Courtesy of the Mariners Museum, Newport News, Virginia. Ted Stone Collection.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 143KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     


    For other images related to this ship, see:

  • Orizaba (ID # 1536) -- On Board and Close Up Views, 1918-1919;
  • Orizaba (ID # 1536 and AP-24) -- Miscellaneous Views; and
  • Duque de Caxias (Brazilian Transport, 1945-1960).


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    Page made 27 October 2005