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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Orizaba (AP-24)
ex
 USAT Orizaba (1941)
 USS Orizaba (SP#1536) (1918 - 1919)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Uniform - Bravo - Yankee
 NUBY
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons



Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive, 11 July 1943)
Second Row - World War I Victory Medal (with Transport clasp) - American Defense Service Medal (with Fleet clasp) - American Campaign Medal
Third Row - Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal (1) - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal

USS Orizaba transferred to Brazil in 1945, renamed Duque de Caxis (U-11)
  • Laid down in 1918 as SS Orizaba at William Cramp and Sons Ship and Engine Co., Philadelphia, PA.
  • Acquired by the Navy from New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Co., 11 April 1918
  • Commissioned, USS Orizaba (SP#1536), 27 May 1918, CDR. Richard D. White in command
  • Decommissioned, 4 September 1919
  • Struck from the Naval Register, date unknown
  • Turned over to the War Department for use as a transport, later returned to New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Co.
  • Reacquired by the War Department in early 1941
  • Transferred to the US Navy, 4 June 1941
  • Commissioned USS Orizaba (AP-24), 15 June 1941
  • During World War II USS Orizaba operated in both the Asiatic-Pacific and Europe-Africa-Middle East Theaters and participated in the following campaign:
    Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign
    Campaign and Dates
    Sicilian Occupation, 9 to 15 July 1943

  • Decommissioned, 23 April 1945
  • Transferred to Brazil under the Lend Lease Program, 16 July 1945, renamed Duque de Caxis (U-11)
  • Permanently transferred to Brazil under the Military Assistance Program in June 1953
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 20 July 1953
  • Struck from the Brazilian Navy in 1960
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
  • USS Orizaba (AP-24) earned one battle star for World War II service
    Specifications:
    Displacement 11,293 t.
    Length 443' 3"
    Beam 60'
    Draft 24' 4"
    Speed 16.5 kts.
    Complement 323
    Troop Accommodations 2,928
    Armament
    (1918) four single 5" gun mounts, two 1-pdrs
    (1941) two single 5"/38 dual purpose gun mounts
    four single 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts
    Propulsion steam turbine
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Source
    USS Orizaba (SP#1536)
    Orizaba 181k SS Orizaba under construction at William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Co., yard, Philadelphia, PA., circa 1917.
    Photo from "The Road to France I: The Transportation of Troops and Military Supplies, 1917–1918" by Benedict Crowell and Robert Forrest Wilson.    		 Robert Hurst
    Orizaba 41k PCU Orizaba (SP#1536) probably photographed just before completion, at William Cramp & Sons Ship and Engine Building Co., yard, Philadelphia, PA., circa April 1918. Note her pattern camouflage and wartime rig of a single mast amidships.
    US Navy photo # NH 101700.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Orizaba 112k USS Orizaba (SP#1536) leaving her New York City slip and going down the North River, bound for France in 1918. Note her pattern camouflage scheme.
    US Navy photo # NH 44914.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Orizaba 72k USS Orizaba (SP#1536) leaving her New York City slip and going down the North River, bound for France in 1918. Note her pattern camouflage scheme, tugs assisting her, and ferryboat in the left background.
    US Navy photo # NH 44915.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Orizaba 97k Halftone reproduction of a photograph of USS Orizaba (SP#1536) taken in 1918, showing the ship in port. The original image was published in 1918-1919 as one of ten photographs in a "Souvenir Folder" of views concerning USS Orizaba.
    US Navy photo # NH 76047 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, Donation of W.R. Koger, 1972.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Orizaba 77k USS Orizaba (SP#1536) in a U.S. East Coast port, 1919. The original photograph is printed on postal card ("AZO") stock.
    US Navy photo # NH 102946 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    USAT Orizaba
    Orizaba 54k Halftone reproduction of a photo of USAT Orizaba taken in 1941, during the ship's brief service as a U.S. Army Transport. Copied from the book "Troopships of World War II", by Roland W. Charles.
    US Navy photo # NH 103119 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    USS Orizaba (AP-24)
    Relief 147k USS Orizaba (AP-24) at Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, VA., while undergoing conversion for Naval service, 29 September 1941. The ship in the foreground is USS Relief (AH-1). Note the details of Relief's bridge, and the illuminated hospital ship recognition cross just forward of and above the spread awning (in the right center). An oiler and the sludge removal barge YSR-1 are in the upper right, with two old "flush deck" destroyers beyond.
    US National Archives photo # 19-N-26136, a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Orizaba 61k USS Orizaba (AP-24) off Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 29 October 1941. She appears to be painted in Camouflage Measure 12 (Graded System).
    US National Archives photo # 19-N-25782, a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Orizaba 106k Looking aft from the flight deck of USS Ranger (CV-4) is USS Orizaba (AP-24), center, with USS Joseph T. Dickman (AP-26) steaming in column astern, while en route to Cape Town, South Africa, 21 November 1941. A Vought SB2U scout bomber, of Scouting Squadron 41 (VS-41) is parked at right. Visible on the flight deck is the letter "G" of Ranger's pre-war identification marking "RNGR".
    US National Archives photo # 80-G-466194, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives.    		 Robert Hurst
    Orizaba 88k USS Orizaba (AP-24) foreground, steams in convoy with other troopships and an oiler, in the Atlantic Ocean, 27 July 1943.
    US National Archives photo # 80-G-54532, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Orizaba 146k USS Orizaba (AP-24) underway at sea, circa 1944. The ship is painted in Camouflage Measure 32, Design 11F.
    US Navy photo # NH 66876 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, Courtesy of the Mariners Museum, Newport News, Virginia. Ted Stone Collection.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Orizaba 29k USS Orizaba (AP-24) underway, date and location unknown. Hyperwar US Navy in WWII
    Duque de Caxis (U-11)
    Orizaba 53k Ex-USS Orizaba (AP-24) in Brazilian service as Duque de Caxis (U-11) in port, circa the 1950s.
    US Navy photo # NH 59786 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Orizaba 61k Duque de Caxis (U-11) in port, circa the 1950s.
    US Navy photo # NH 59786 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Orizaba 41k Duque de Caxis (U-11) underway, circa 1950, location unknown.
    Official Brazilian Navy photo for from "Jane's Fighting Ships 1954-55"    		 Robert Hurst
    Orizaba 39k Duque de Caxis (U-11) in British waters, circa 1956 (Wright & Logan, Southsea, England).
    Photo from "Jane's Fighting Ships 1956-57"    		 Robert Hurst
    USS Orizaba (SP#1536 / AP-24)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR. White, Richard Drace,27 May 1918 - ?
    02CDR. Freeman, Charles Seymour :VADM1919 - ?
    03CAPT. Gulbranson, Clarence1941 - ?
    04CDR. Kelly, Laurence Edward1943 - ?
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    USS Orizaba (SP#1536) 1918-1919 On Board and Close Up Views
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Service Force Ship Type Index Back to The Identification Numbered Ships (ID) Photo Index Back To The Transport (AP) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 5 October 2012