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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Vulcan (I)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Spanish Campaign Medal
Screw-Steamer:
  • Completed in 1884 as SS Chatham, an iron-hulled, schooner-rigged screw steamship, by American Shipbuilding Co., Philadelphia, PA.
  • Launched, date unknown
  • Acquired by the US Navy, 2 May 1898, from Merchants' & Miners' Transportation Co., Baltimore, MD.
  • Renamed Vulcan and converted to the US Navy's first Repair Ship
  • Commissioned, 31 May 1898, as USS Vulcan, LCDR. Ira Harris, in command
  • Vulcan served in Cuban waters during the Spanish-American War
  • Decommissioned, 12 January 1899, at the League Island Navy Yard, Philadelphia, PA.
  • Sold, 3 July 1899, back to Merchant's & Miner's Transportation Co., renamed SS Chatham
  • Final Disposition, believed to have been scrapped in 1911
    Specifications:
    Displacement 1,909 t.
    Length 265' 4"
    Beam 40'
    Draft 15' 6"
    Speed unknown
    Complement 197
    Armamenttwo 6-pdrs
    Propulsion steam, single screw
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Contributed By
    Vulcan
    09250531    		 98k
    Namesake
    Vulcan - The god of fire including the fire of volcanoes, deserts, metalworking, and the forge in ancient Roman religion and myth. He is often depicted with a blacksmith's hammer.    		 Tommy Trampp
    Medusa 62k USS Vulcan at sea, during the Spanish-American War in 1898. Copied from the book of letters kept by Assistant Surgeon William S. Thomas, 1898.
    US Navy photo # NH 45237 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 Robert Hurst
    View the USS Vulcan
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 31 July 2020