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Photo # NH 90437:  USS Orion anchored off Long Beach, California, August 1919

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

USS Orion (Collier # 11, later AC-11), 1912-1933

USS Orion, a 19,132-ton (displacement) fleet collier, was built at Sparrows Point, Maryland, as one of several large ships intended to refuel the Navy's coal-burning warships under operational conditions. She was commissioned in late July 1912 and operated with the Atlantic Fleet for most of the next four and a half years. Orion also deployed to the Philippines but had returned to the Western Hemisphere by the time the United States entered World War I in April 1917. During that conflict she steamed to the Azores and to South America, as well as transporting coal along the U.S. East Coast.

Soon after the November 1918 Armistice brought an end to the fighting, Orion carried coal to European waters. She then served with the Atlantic Fleet until mid-1919, when she went to the Pacific for a year's operations along the west coasts of North and South America. For the rest of her active career Orion was assigned to the Naval Transport Service, mainly providing fuel to Navy units in the Atlantic and Caribbean areas. With the Fleet now largely converted to oil fuel, thus greatly reducing its need for colliers, she was decommissioned in June 1926, stricken from the Navy list in July 1931 and sold in late August 1933.

This page features, and provides links to, all the views we have concerning USS Orion (Collier # 11, later AC-11).

For more images related to this ship, see:

  • USS Orion (Collier # 11, later AC-11) -- On Board, Close Up, Crew and Miscellaneous Images; and
  • USS Orion (Collier # 11, later AC-11) -- On Board, Close Up, Crew and Miscellaneous Images (Part II).


    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 99778

    USS Orion
    (Collier # 11)

    Photographed prior to World War I, probably during her first years of service.
    Note she has not yet received the enclosed pilothouse, atop her forward superstructure, that she carried from at least 1917 onward.

    Courtesy of Jim Kazalis, 1981.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 59KB; 740 x 445 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 90435

    USS Orion
    (Collier # 11)

    In the Dewey Dry Dock, Olongapo Naval Station, Philippines, in February 1916.

    Collection of Commander John H. Boesch, USNRF. Donated by Jack Howland, 1979.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 69KB; 740 x 455 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 90432

    USS Orion
    (Collier # 11)

    Underway at sea off New York Harbor in October 1917, after passing the Ambrose light ship.

    Collection of Commander John H. Boesch, USNRF. Donated by Jack Howland, 1979.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 70KB; 740 x 505 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 90434

    USS Orion
    (Collier # 11)

    Discharging cargo at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, on 27 October 1918.

    Collection of Commander John H. Boesch, USNRF. Donated by Jack Howland, 1979.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 88KB; 740 x 435 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 68320

    USS Orion
    (Collier # 11)

    At anchor, circa 1919.

    Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 77KB; 740 x 515 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 90445

    USS Orion
    (Collier # 11)

    Coaling at the Norfolk & Western coal pier, Norfolk, Virginia, circa 1919.
    Photographed by A.E. Wells, Washington, D.C.

    Collection of Commander John H. Boesch, USNRF. Donated by Jack Howland, 1979.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 124KB; 740 x 600 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 99779

    USS Orion
    (Collier # 11)

    At the Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, circa 1919.
    Panoramic photograph taken by the G.L. Hall Optical Co. of Norfolk, Virginia.
    Note the Sailor making a semaphore signal from the ship's port bridge wing (at left), and several gun barrels stacked in the far right foreground.

    Donation of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard Museum, Portsmouth, Virginia.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 86KB; 1200 x 260 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 90437

    USS Orion
    (Collier # 11)

    Drying signal flags while anchored off Long Beach, California, August 1919.

    Collection of Commander John H. Boesch, USNRF. Donated by Jack Howland, 1979.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 530 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 93724

    USS Orion
    (AC-11)

    Coaling USS Pittsburgh (CA-4), flagship of Commander U.S. Naval Forces in European Waters, at Cardiff, Wales, during the early 1920s.

    Courtesy of Jack Howland, 1982.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 69KB; 740 x 465 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 90442

    USS Orion
    (AC-11)

    Eastbound in the Gatun Lock, Panama Canal, November 1921.

    Collection of Commander John H. Boesch, USNRF. Donated by Jack Howland, 1979.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 94KB; 740 x 555 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 99716

    USS Orion
    (AC-11)

    Anchored off the Isle of Pines, Cuba, during the 1920s.
    Photographed from USS Hannibal (AG-1).

    Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of LeRoy R. Horstman.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 85KB; 740 x 600 pixels

     


    The ship seen in the following image is either USS Orion, or her sister ship, USS Jason:

    Photo #: NH 100770

    USS Orion
    (AC-11) or USS Jason (AC-12)

    At a Caribbean area base, probably the Coco Solo Submarine Base, Panama Canal Zone, circa the mid-1920s.
    USS O-2 (SS-63) is at right.

    Courtesy of Paul H. Silverstone, 1986.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 63KB; 740 x 425 pixels

     

    Related image: The ship seen in Photo # NH 44048 is identified on the original print as USS Orion (Collier # 11). However, it is actually USS Neptune (Collier # 8).


    For more images related to USS Orion, see:

  • USS Orion (Collier # 11, later AC-11) -- On Board, Close Up, Crew and Miscellaneous Images; and
  • USS Orion (Collier # 11, later AC-11) -- On Board, Close Up, Crew and Miscellaneous Images (Part II).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 31 December 2004