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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive
Contributed by Don McGrogan, BMCS, USN Ret. - Popular Patch

USS Panther (AD-6)
ex
 USS Panther (Destroyer Tender) (1917 - 1920)
 USS Panther (Auxiliary Repair Ship) (1907 - 1917)
 USS Panther (Training Ship) (1902 - 1907)
 USS Panther (Auxiliary Cruiser) (1898 - 1902)

International Radio Call Sign, 1913:
Nan - Oboe - Jig
 NOJ
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
Spanish Campaign Medal - Navy Expeditionary Service Medal - World War I Victory Medal (with Mobile Base Clasp)
  • Built in 1889 as SS Venezuela by William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia, PA.
  • Purchased by the US Navy, 12 April 1898 from the Red D Line Steamship Co.; Designated an Auxiliary Cruiser and Commissioned USS Panther, 22 April 1898, CDR. George C. Reiter in command
  • Placed in-ordinary, 20 October 1899 at Philadelphia, PA
  • Recommissioned, 19 June 1902
  • Decommissioned, 21 October 1903 at Philadelphia, PA.
  • Recommissioned, 18 November 1907 as a Auxiliary Repair Ship
  • Reclassified a Destroyer Tender, April 1917
  • Designated (AD-6), 17 July 1920
  • Decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register in May 1922
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 24 March 1923, to Tioga Steel Co., Philadelphia, PA.
    Specifications:
    Displacement 4,260 t.
    Length 324' 4"
    Beam 40' 6"
    Draft 18'
    Speed 13 kts.
    Complement 138
    Armament (Auxiliary Cruiser)
    six 5" gun mounts
    two 4" gun mounts
    six 3-pdrs
    one Colt machine gun.
    Propulsion steam
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Merchant service
    Panther
    09030612    		 87k Red D Steamship Line freighter SS Venezuela underway, date and location unknown. Venezuela hauled bananas from Central America to the United States until purchased by the US Navy 12 April 1898.
    US Navy photo # USN 1034893    		 Tommy Trampp
    Auxiliary Cruiser USS Panther
    Panther
    09030611    		 62k
    Namesake
    Panther - a black variant of jaguars or leopards.    		 Tommy Trampp
    Panther 81k Auxiliary Cruiser USS Panther circa 1898, during the Spanish-American War
    US Navy photo NH44471 from the collections of the US Naval History and Heritage Command     		US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Training Ship USS Panther
    Panther 126k Training Ship USS Panther at anchor, probably during her period in commission from June 1902 to October 1903 after being refitted as a training ship with topmasts and heavy yardarms. Her main battery has been rearranged, guns now being visible in the two open hull ports and on deck forward of the foremast. The two 4" guns also attributed to the ship may be on the fantail but are not clearly visible.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command, Photo No. NH 105834    		 Mike Green
    Panther 585k USS Panther moored at Pier 4, Colon, Colombia, September 1902. Taken while she was serving as a troop transport to protect against unrest in Honduras.
    US National Archives photo RG-185-R-4    		 David Wright
    Auxiliary Repair Ship USS Panther
    Panther 50k Auxiliary Repair ship USS Panther at anchor, date and location unknown. Photo from "Jane's Fighting Ships 1914." Robert Hurst
    Panther 155k Post card of Auxiliary Repair ship USS Panther and crew, Pensacola, FL. 1915. Tommy Trampp
    Panther 113k USS Panther while serving as a repair ship for the Atlantic Fleet sometime after the fleet converted from white to gray paint in 1909 and before she was fitted with 3" guns in around 1915. The spreaders suspended from the tops of the masts supported long-wire radio antennas.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command, Photo No. NH 44472, courtesy Shipscribe.com.    		 Mike Green
    Destroyer Tender USS Panther
    Panther 93k USS Panther moored in Kirkwall Harbor, Orkney Islands, while supporting the North Sea mine barrage clearance operation in 1919. She has several trawlers and submarine chasers alongside. The latter include (from left to right, in outboard group off Panther's port side: USS SC-181 USS SC-48, USS SC-328 and USS SC-38.
    Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken by DeLong, of USS Black Hawk, published in the cruise book "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage, 1919", page 33.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 99690, donation of SKC Charles A. Free.    		 Robert Hurst
    SC-37, 38, 181, 208, 182 & 272 112k USS Panther full-dressed, 4 July 1919, at Kirkwall, Scotland, tending subchasers and trawlers helping to sweep the North Sea Mine Barrage. She took over this duty from USS Black Hawk which continued to support the force's minesweepers. Her four 3" guns are located on the deck forward of the foremast and near the stern. The subchasers alongside are;
    USS SC-37,
    USS SC-38, and
    USS SC-181,
    USS SC-208 (in the after nest) and
    USS SC-182,
    USS SC-272, and either
    USS SC-45 or
    USS SC-95 (forward)
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 40049, courtesy Shipscribe.com.    		 Mike Green
    Panther 69k USS Panther at Kirkwall, Orkney Islands with part of the Mine force. Sub Chasers identifiable include USS SC-328, USS SC-208 and USS SC-207. The Sub Chaser Archives
    Panther 547k USS Panther crew photo and roster. Photo was probably taken, circa 1919, at Kirkwall, Scotland.
    US Navy photo from "Sweeping the North Sea Mine Barrage" by the U.S. Navy North Sea Minesweeping Detachment.    		 Joe Radigan, MACM USN Ret.
    USS Panther (AD-6)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR. Reiter, George Cook, USN (USNA 1865)22 April 1898 - 1899
    02LCDR. Ward, Aaron, USN (USNA 1871)1899 - 20 October 1899
     In Ordinary20 October 1899 - 19 June 1902
    03CDR. Wilson, John Clark, USN (USNA 1869)19 June 1902 - 21 October 1903
     Decommissioned21 October 1899 - 18 November 1907
    04CDR. Nelson, Valentine Sevier18 November 1907 - ?
    05CDR. McKean, Josiah Slutts, USN (USNA 1884) :RADM18 October 1909 - ?
    06CDR. De Steiguer, Louis Rodolph, USN (USNA 1889) :ADM12 July 1911 - 20 June 1913
    07LT. Davis, Louis Poisson, USN (USNA 1905)20 June 1913 - 3 January 1914
    08LT. Haines, Gordon Wayne, USN (USNA 1905)3 January 1914 - 25 August 1914
    09LT. Dampman, Paul Edward, USN25 August 1914 - 7 September 1915
    10LT. Haines, Gordon Wayne, USN (USNA 1905)3 7 September 1915 - 15 January 1916
    11CDR. Laning, Harris, USN (USNA 1895) :ADM15 January 1916 - 6 October 1916
    12CDR. Proctor, André Morton, USN (USNA 1893)6 October 1916 - 15 June 1919
    13LT. Pennington, John Dickey, USN (XOIC)15 June 1919 - 1 July 1919
    14CDR. Wood, Clarence Eddy, USN1 July 1919 - 3 January 1921
    15LCDR. Baum, George Martin, USN (USNA 1904)3 January 1921 - 7 December 1921
    16CDR. Root, Edmond Spence, USN (USNA 1905)7 December 1921 - 1 January 1922
    17CDR. Oberlin, Edgar Garfield1 January 1922 - 16 May 1922
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 26 March 2021