USS Jason, a 19,250-ton collier built at Sparrows Point, Maryland, entered service in late June 1913. During 1913 and 1914 she carried fuel to U.S. ships operating in the Caribbean region and in the Mediterranean Sea. Late in 1914 she carried Christmas gifts to war-torn Europe. Jason continued her coal and freight transportation services for the next four years, mainly in the western Atlantic and Caribbean, but also making a voyage to the West Coast in 1915. In April-July 1918 she carried aviation materials from the U.S. to Scotland, and following the end of World War I she again took coal and other cargo to the Mediterranean.
In mid-1919 Jason went to the Pacific for a half-year. She then returned to the Atlantic and transported more fuel and supplies to U.S. ships serving in European waters. When the Navy formally implemented its hull number system in mid-1920, she was designated AC-12. Beginning in 1921 the ship's missions included carrying aircraft and artillery equipment to Guam, additional transportation work in the Pacific and, in 1923, a voyage taking U.S. Marines from Nicaragua to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Jason was sent to the Far East in 1925 with a new role, acting as tender to the Asiatic Fleet's aircraft. After nearly a half decade in this job, she was redesignated AV-2 in January 1930.
USS Jason returned to the U.S. in May 1932. Decommissioned at the Puget Sound Navy Yard a month later, she was kept in reserve there until May 1936, when she was stricken from the Navy list. Sold in late July 1936, and subsequently employed as the commercial bulk freighter Jason, she was scrapped in 1948.
This page features, and provides links to, all the views we have concerning USS Jason (Collier # 12, later AC-12 and AV-2), 1913-1936.
For more images related to this ship, see:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: NH 52193 USS Jason (Collier # 12) Photographed when first completed, circa mid-1913. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 83KB; 740 x 590 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 52194 USS Jason (Collier # 12) Alongside Pier "B" at the Key West Naval Station, Florida, on 1 October 1913. The motor boat Lilla is among the small craft in the foreground. Note the elaborate coal handling gear on this pier. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 88KB; 740 x 560 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 79486 USS Jason (Collier # 12) Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken prior to World War I, circa 1913-1917. Copied from the book United States Navy Illustrated, published in New York, 1917. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 69KB; 740 x 450 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 390 USS Jason (Collier # 12) Photographed circa 1919 by R.E. Wayne, probably in the Adriatic Sea area. Note the lighthouse in the left foreground. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 68KB; 740 x 425 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 52195 USS Jason (AC-12) At Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, with a deckload of Douglas DT-2 aircraft (of Torpedo Squadron Two), 18 July 1923. Note the radio towers in the background. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 96KB; 740 x 575 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 52197 USS Jason (AC-12) With a Martin SC-2 aircraft (of Torpedo Squadron Four) on deck, during the middle or later 1920s. Note the aviation star insignia on Jason's bow. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 73KB; 740 x 580 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 94178 USS Jason (AV-2) In Far Eastern waters, circa 1931-1932. She has two Martin T4M-1s of Torpedo Squadron Five on board. Collection of Lieutenant Oscar W. Levy, USN (Supply Corps), (Retired). U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 97KB; 740 x 555 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 52196 Vought O2U "Corsair" floatplane Flies over the Cavite Navy Yard, Philippine Islands, circa 1930. The seaplane tender Jason (AV-2) is docked at the yard, directly below the plane. Sangley Point Naval Radio Station is in the background. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 116KB; 740 x 595 pixels |
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Photo #: 80-CF-22672-1 USS Jason (AV-2) In the Dewey Drydock, at Olongapo, Philippine Islands, on 9 March 1932. USS Canopus (AS-9) is in the upper right, with four submarines moored alongside. The outboard submarine is S-38 (SS-143). Photograph from Department of the Navy collections in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 105KB; 740 x 605 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-CF-22672-3 USS Jason (AV-2) In the Dewey Drydock, at Olongapo, Philippine Islands, 8 March 1932. Photograph from Department of the Navy collections in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 68KB; 740 x 600 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-410001 USS Jason (AV-2) Coaling from barge YC-479 (or YC-473 ?) at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on 29 April 1932, just before she made her final voyage to the U.S. West Coast. Several Martin T4M-1 torpedo planes are on her deck, amidships. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 101KB; 740 x 600 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold at other views of USS Jason (AC-12, later AV-2). The following list features some of these photographs:
The images listed below are NOT in
the Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our
page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".
USS Jason (AC-12) underway at low speed in Hampton Roads, Virginia, January 1925. Starboard broadside (somewhat toward the bow) aerial view. The ship's extreme stern is cropped out of this image. USS Jason (AC-12) underway off Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 25 July 1925. Port quarter aerial view. USS Jason (AV-2) at anchor in January 1930. Starboard broadside (rather toward the stern) surface view. USS Jason (AV-2) at anchor in a Far Eastern harbor, 3 April 1931, with several seaplanes (possibly Vought O2U types) on deck. Starboard broadside surface view. The ship has the aviation star emblem painted on her bow.
Civilian collier Jason underway off the U.S. East Coast (position 36-58N, 75-43W) on course 280, 26 May 1943. Photographed from a blimp of Squadron ZP-14. Starboard broadside aerial view. This ship is the former USS Jason (AC-12, AV-2), which became a merchant ship after she was sold by the Navy. Her midships coaling towers have been removed and replaced by a self-unloading boom arrangement, pivoting from a tower just aft of her forward superstructure (rather like a Great Lakes bulk carrier).
Reproductions of these images should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center. The images listed in this box are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions". |
For more images related to this ship, see:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 13 January 2004