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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Orion (AC-11)
ex
 USS Orion (Fuel Ship No. 11) (1912 - 1920)
 USS Orion (ID #1650)

International Radio Call Sign, 1912:
Nan - Oboe - Cast
 NOC
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Mexican Service Medal - World War I Victory Medal
Orion Class Collier:
  • Laid down, 6 October 1911, at Maryland Steel Co., Sparrows Point, MD.
  • Launched, 23 March 1912
  • Commissioned USS Orion (Fuel Ship No. 11), 29 July 1912, at Norfolk, VA.
  • Decommissioned, 9 October 1914
  • Laid up in the Norfolk Reserve Fleet
  • Recommissioned, 28 December 1914
  • Redesignated USS Orion (AC-11), 17 July 1920
  • Decommissioned, 18 June 1926, at Norfolk, VA.
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 10 July 1931
  • Sold, 30 August 1933, to Union Ship Building Co., Baltimore, MD.
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 19,132 t.
    Length 536'
    Beam 65'
    Draft 27' 8"
    Speed 14 kts.
    Complement 179
    Armament four 4" gun mounts
    Propulsion
    three coal fired double ended boilers
    two vertical triple expansion steam engines
    two propeller shafts 3,471shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Orion
    09361838    		 1,021k
    Namesake
    Orion - In Greek mythology, Orion was a giant huntsman whom Zeus (or perhaps Artemis) placed among the stars as the constellation of Orion. (Wikipedia)
    Print of the copperplate engraving for Johann Bayer's Uranometria (1661) showing the constellation Orion, courtesy of the United States Naval Observatory Library.    		 Tommy Trampp
    Orion 60k USS Orion (Fuel Ship No. 11) photographed prior to World War I, probably during her first years of service. Note: she has not yet received the enclosed pilot house, atop her forward superstructure, that she carried from at least 1917 onward.
    US Navy photo # NH 99778 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 Tony Cowart
    Orion 428k USS Orion (Fuel Ship No. 11) coaling USS Utah (Battleship No.31) by conveyers, at Navy Yard New York, 16 July 1914. The conveyor foot in the hold of Orion
    US National Archives ARC Identifier: 6126669    		 Mike Mohl
    Orion 70k USS Orion (Fuel Ship No. 11) in the Dewey Dry Dock, Olongapo Naval Station, Philippines, in February 1916. Photograph from the collection of CDR. John H. Boesch, USNRF. Donated by Jack Howland, 1979 to the US Naval Historical Center.
    US Navy photo # NH 90435    		 Tony Cowart
    Orion 89k USS Orion (Fuel Ship No. 11) 4"/40 gun crew, circa 1917-1918.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 99799 from the collection of CDR. John H. Boesch, USNRF. Donated by Jack Howland, 1979.    		 Robert Hurst
    Orion 71k USS Orion (Fuel Ship No. 11) underway at sea off New York Harbor in October 1917, after passing the Ambrose light ship. Photograph from the collection of CDR. John H. Boesch, USNRF. Donated by Jack Howland, 1979 to the US Naval Historical Center.
    US Navy photo # NH 90432    		 Tony Cowart
    Orion
    09021121    		 101k Portuguese newspaper article reporting the encounter of USS Orion (Fuel Ship No. 11) with a German submarine off Ponta Delgada in the Azores, 4 July 1917. Also includes a photo of LCDR Boesch, Orion's commanding officer. Jay Milewski
    Orion
    09021122    		 229k USS Orion (Fuel Ship No. 11) underway in Guantanamo Bay Cuba, date unknown. David WRight
    Orion 90k USS Orion (Fuel Ship No. 11) discharging cargo at St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, 27 October 1918. Photograph from the collection of CDR. John H. Boesch, USNRF. Donated by Jack Howland, 1979 to the US Naval Historical Center.
    US Navy photo # NH 90434    		 Tony Cowart
    Orion 135k USS Orion (Fuel Ship No. 11) offloading coal at a West Indies port (possibly St. Thomas, Virgin Islands), circa 1918-1919. Note local women with coal baskets atop their heads.
    US Navy photo # NH 90440 from the collection of CDR. John H. Boesch, USNRF. Donated by Jack Howland, 1979.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Orion 68k West Indian Women carry coal baskets on their heads, while unloading USS Orion (Collier # 11), circa 1918-1919. Location may be St. Thomas, Virgin Islands
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 90441 from the collection of CDR. John H. Boesch, USNRF. Donated by Jack Howland, 1979.    		 Robert Hurst
    Orion 209k USS Orion (Fuel Ship No. 11) at anchor, circa 1919, location unknown.
    Same as US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 68320, courtesy of Donald M. McPherson    		 Jim Kurrasch
    Battleship Iowa Pacific Battleship Center
    Orion 127k USS Orion (Fuel Ship No. 11) coaling at the Norfolk & Western coal pier, Norfolk, VA., circa 1919. Photographed by A.E. Wells, Washington, D.C. From the collection of CDR. John H. Boesch, USNRF. Donated by Jack Howland, 1979 to the US Naval Historical Center.
    US Navy photo # NH 90445    		 Tony Cowart
    Orion 87k USS Orion (Fuel Ship No. 11) at the Norfolk Navy Yard, VA., circa 1919. Panoramic photograph taken by the G.L. Hall Optical Co. of Norfolk, VA. 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, VA. to the US Naval Historical Center.
    US Navy photo # NH 99779    		 Tony Cowart
    Orion 80k USS Orion (Fuel Ship No. 11) drying signal flags while anchored off Long Beach, California, August 1919. Photograph from the collection of CDR. John H. Boesch, USNRF. Donated by Jack Howland, 1979 to the US Naval Historical Center.
    US Navy photo # NH 90437    		 Tony Cowart
    Orion 87k USS Orion (Fuel Ship No. 11) Crewmen at mess on deck, outside the ship's after superstructure, circa 1917-1920.
    US Navy photo # NH 90436 from the US Naval Historical Center, Collection CDR. John H. Boesch, USNRF. Donated by Jack Howland, 1979.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Orion 117k USS Orion (Fuel Ship No. 11) ship's officers and mascot, 14 May 1920, photo by A.E. Wells, Washington, D.C. Orion is partially visible behind them. Her Commanding Officer, CDR John H. Boesch, USNRF, is seated behind the dog.
    US Navy photo # NH 90438 from the US Naval Historical Center, Collection Commander John H. Boesch, USNRF. Donated by Jack Howland, 1979.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Orion 70k 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.
    US Navy photo # NH 93724 courtesy of Jack Howland, 1982, from the US Naval Historical Center.    		 Tony Cowart
    Orion 96k USS Orion (AC-11) eastbound in the Gatun Lock, Panama Canal, November 1921. Photograph from the collection of CDR. John H. Boesch, USNRF. Donated by Jack Howland, 1979 to the US Naval Historical Center.
    US Navy photo # NH 90442.    		 Tony Cowart
    Jason 68k 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.
    US Navy photo # NH 100770 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, courtesy Paul H. Silverstone, 1986.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Orion 86k USS Orion (AC-11) anchored off the Isle of Pines, Cuba, during the 1920s. Photographed from USS Hannibal (AG-1).
    US Navy photo # NH 99716 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, collection of LeRoy R. Horstman.    		 Tony Cowart
    Orion 134k USS Orion (AC-11) at Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, MA., 8 April 1923, with her officers and crew posed beside her. Panoramic photograph taken by H.J. Darley, of Somerville, MA. entitled: "Officers & Crew of the U.S.S. Orion after the bestowal by the Portuguese Government of the Decoration 'Torre e Espada' -- Boston Navy Yard April 8th 1923".
    US Navy photo # NH 99780 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Orion 272k USS Orion (AC-11) S and A form 85a. Rating or Disrating form used to adjust pay for enlisted members. Tommy Trampp
    USS Orion (AC-11)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01MASTER, Horton, Fred Edward (Naval Auxiliary Service)29 December 1912 - 9 October 1914
     Decommissioned9 October 1914 - 28 December 1914
    02LCDR. Boesch, John Henry, USNRF? - November 1918
    03LCDR. Miles, Alfred Hart, USN (USNA 1907)21 February 1919 - 15 January 1920
    04LCDR. Boesch, John Henry, USNRF15 January 1920 - 7 September 1921
    05LCDR. Chase, Henry Sanders, USNRF (USNA 1879)7 September 1921 - 1922
    06CDR. Bowdey, George Hall, USN (USNA 1906)1922 - 25 may 1923
    07LCDR. Miles, Alfred Hart, USN (USNA 1907)25 May 1923 - 15 May 1925
    08CDR. Gulliver, Louis Joseph USN (USNA 1907)15 May 1925 - 18 June 1926
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
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    Last Updated 2 June 2023