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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Buffalo (AD-8)
ex
 Transport (1906 - 1918)
 Auxiliary Cruiser (1898 - 1906)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from left to right
Top Row - Navy Expeditionary Medal - Philippine Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - China Relief Expedition Medal- Mexican Service Medal - World War I Victory Medal (with Asiatic and Mobile Base clasps)
Screw Steamer / Buffalo Class Destroyer Tender:
  • Built in 1892 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Newport News, VA., as SS El Cid
  • Sold to Brazil and remained SS Nicheroy
  • Purchased by the US Navy from the Brazilian Government, 11 July 1898 and renamed USS Buffalo
  • Commissioned in ordinary a week later and fitted out as an Auxiliary Cruiser at New York Navy Yard
  • Commissioned in full, 22 September 1898, CDR. J. N. Hamphill in command
  • Decommissioned, 3 July 1899
  • Recommissioned, 2 April 1900, to serve as a Training Ship
    During this period of commissioned service Buffalo made four voyages to the Philippines with replacement crews for the Asiatic Fleet. including replacement
    personnel for the 1st Torpedo Flotilla at Manila.
  • Decommission at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA., April 1905
  • Recommissioned, 17 November 1906, as a Transport
  • Decommissioned, 27 January 1915
  • Recommissioned, 29 November 1915
  • Converted to a Destroyer Tender at Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, PA. in 1918
  • Designated (AD-8), 17 July 1920
  • Decommissioned, 15 November 1922, at San Diego, CA.
  • Used as a Barracks Ship until; Struck from the Naval Register, 27 May 1927
  • Final Disposition, sold, September 1927, fate unknown.
    Specifications:
    Displacement 6,530 t.
    Length 406’ 1"
    Beam 48’ 3"
    Draft 20’9"
    Speed 14.5 kts.
    Complement 50
    Armament two 5", four 4" guns.
    Propulsion coal fired boilers, steam turbine, single propeller.
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Buffalo 32k USS Buffalo, CDR. Hutchins, Commanding Officer, Photo by Edward H. Hart., (between 1898 and 1901) Photo from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA Bill Gonyo
    Buffalo 143k USS Buffalo at Brooklyn Navy Yard, date unknown.
    Library of Congress, LC-D4-20263    		 Mike Green
    Buffalo 2193k "Teddy" the USS Buffalo mascot, circa 1908
    Photo by Pillsbury Picture Co.    		 Darryl Baker
    Buffalo 112k USS Buffalo at anchor with boats out, date and location unknown.
    Library of Congress, LC-D4-20261    		 Mike Green
    Buffalo 48k USS Buffalo at anchor, date and location unknown. Photo from "Jane's All The World's Fighting Ships 1924." Robert Hurst
    Buffalo 357k USS Buffalo at anchor in San Francisco Bay during the Portola Week Festival in October 1913.
    Photo by Dresser's 226 Powell Street, San Francisco, CA.    		 Robert M. Cieri
    Buffalo 94k USS Buffalo pierside, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo.    		 Doug Fisher
    Buffalo 515k USS Buffalo at anchor in the harbor at Villefranche, France, date unknown.
    Photo from Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, file name: M-46 AD-8 01.    		 Darryl Bake
    Buffalo 75k USS Buffalo at anchor in the harbor at Gibraltar circa December 1918, with USS Schley (Destroyer # 103) alongside and the collier USS Jupiter (Collier # 3) in the background. Note that Schley is still wearing pattern camouflage, while Buffalo has been repainted into overall grey.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo #: NH 56643    		 Robert Hurst
    Buffalo 370k USS Buffalo at anchor in the Azores, 3 May 1919.
    Photo from Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, file name: M-45 AD-8 01.    		 Darryl Baker

    For more photos and information about USS Buffalo, see;
  • Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
  • Henry Connelly (1864-1948) Photo Collection
  • Commanding Officers
    • Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Cruiser Photo Index Back To The Service Ship Type Index Back To The Transport Photo Index Back To The Destroyer Tender (AD) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 25 January 2013