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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

ID-3143 / AS-6 / IX-42 Camden


Contributed by Don McGrogan, BMCS, USN Ret.
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - World War I Victory Medal (with Transport Clasp)
Bottom Row - American Defense Medal - American Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal
Camden Class Submarine Tender:
  • Built in 1900 as SS Kiel, at Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellscraft, Flensburg, Germany
  • Seized by the US Government at US entry into WWI
  • Transferred to the United States Shipping Board (USSB), 22 May 1917
  • Acquired by the Navy and Commissioned as Cargo Ship USS Camden (ID-3143), 15 August 1917, LCDR. E. C. Jones, USNRF, in command
  • Decommissioned, 3 May 1918, at Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, PA., for conversion to a Submarine Tender
  • Recommissioned, 21 February 1919
  • Designated (AS-6), 17 July 1920
  • Decommissioned, 26 May 1931, at Philadelphia, PA.
  • Reclassified as a barracks ship Miscellaneous Unclassified, (IX-42), 17 September 1940
  • Struck from the Naval Register (date unknown)
  • Final Disposition, sold, 23 October 1946, fate unknown
    Specifications:
    Displacement 6,075 t.
    Length 403' 8"
    Beam 47' 8"
    Draft 24'
    Speed 12 kts.
    Complement 345
    Armament four 4" guns, two 3" guns
    Propulsion system unknown
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    USS Camden (ID # 3143)
    Camden 76k Camden (ID # 3143) at Charleston Navy Yard, Charleston, S.C., 11 June 1917, while being converted from the German cargo steamship SS Kiel. Note Reposo II (SP-198) on the near side of the pier.
    US Navy photo # NH 55043, for the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Camden 104k Camden (ID # 3143) moored pierside at Charleston Navy Yard, Charleston, S.C., 23 August 1917.
    US Navy photo # NH 55041, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Camden 68k Camden (ID # 3143) at anchor off Charleston Navy Yard, Charleston, S.C., 23 August 1917.
    US Navy photo # NH 55039, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Camden 64k Camden (ID # 3143) off Charleston Navy Yard, Charleston, S.C., 23 August 1917.
    US Navy photo # NH 55040, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Camden 64k Camden (ID # 3143) with Talbot (Destroyer # 114) at Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, PA., 28 August 1919.
    US Navy photo # NH 47001, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Crosby Collection.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Camden 86k Camden (ID # 3143) at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, MA., 13 October 1919. Panoramic photograph by J. Crosby, Naval Photographer, 11 Portland St., Boston, MA.
    US Navy photo # NH 99891, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Crosby Collection.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Camden 85k Camden (ID # 3143) at anchor, 21 January 1920, with R-1 (Submarine #-78) alongside.
    US Navy photo # NH 99894, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Camden 95k Camden (ID # 3143) at New York City, 2 May 1920, with six "R" type submarines alongside. R-5 (Submarine #-82) is the third sub from the left.
    US Navy photo # NH 82521, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, collection of William E. Bennington, Senior. Donated by W.E. and R.W. Bennington, 1974.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    USS Camden (AS-6)
    Camden 81k Camden (AS-6) off New York City with twelve submarines alongside, circa 1920. Submarines are, from inboard to outboard (left to right):
    R-1 (SS-78);
    R-2 (SS-79);
    R-4 (SS-81);
    R-5 (SS-82);
    R-6 (SS-83);
    R-10 (SS-87);
    R-9 (SS-86);
    R-8 (SS-85);
    R-7 (SS-84);
    R-3 (SS-80);
    S-4 (SS-109); and
    S-3 (SS-107).
    US Navy photo # NH 99892, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Camden 107k Camden (AS-6) in New York Harbor during the early 1920s, with several "R" type submarines alongside. The sub closest to Camden is R-1 (SS-78). Note that all these submarines have platforms forward of their fairwaters for a 3"/50 gun, but only one of them carries the gun.
    US Navy photo # NH 61543, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Camden 109k Camden (AS-6) in # 1 Wet Basin at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, VA., just before leaving for the West Coast, April 1921. The original photograph is printed on postal card ("AZO") stock.
    US Navy photo # NH 102968, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Camden 79k Camden (AS-6) in San Pedro Harbor, CA., 1921. Submarines alongside are (from outboard to inboard):
    R-1 (SS-78);
    R-3 (SS-80);
    R-8 (SS-85);
    R-4 (SS-81);
    R-2 (SS-79); and
    R-10 (SS-87).
    US Navy photo # NH 55044, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center web site
    Camden 83k Camden (AS-6) circa the early 1920s, with four "R" type submarines alongside, including (from left to right):
    R-6 (SS-83);
    R-4 (SS-81);
    unidentified; and
    R-2 (SS-79);.
    US Navy photo # NH 92002, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, collection of Joseph A. Hendricks.    		 US Naval Historical Center web site
    Camden 67k Camden (AS-6) in San Diego Harbor, CA., during the early 1920s, with four "R" type submarines alongside. The outboard submarine is R-8 (SS-85). The inboard "boat" is R-6 (SS-83).
    US Navy photo # NH 101183, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, courtesy of H.R. ("Ed") Coffer, 1986.    		 US Naval Historical Center web site
    Camden 52k Camden (AS-6) at anchor with "R" type submarines alongside, during the early 1920s.
    US Navy photo # NH 99890, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, collection of Chief Quartermaster John Harold, USN.    		 US Naval Historical Center web site
    Camden 82k Camden (AS-6), at anchor, with unidentified submarines alongside, date and place unknown. Postcard photo George Klos
    Savannah 92k Control Force submarines and their tenders at Christobal, Panama Canal Zone, circa 1923. The tenders are (from left to right): Savannah (AS-8), Bushnell (AS-2), Beaver (AS-5) and Camden (AS-6). Submarines are mostly "R" type boats, among them R-23 (SS-100) and R-25 (SS-102), both in the nest alongside Savannah's port quarter. The larger submarine alongside Savannah's bow may be S-1 (SS-105), with her large seaplane hangar. Photo by A.E. Wells.
    US Navy photo # NH 42573 courtesy of CDR. Christopher Noble, USN (Retired), 1967. From the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Camden 37k Camden (AS-6) with two other submarine tenders in the distance, circa the middle or later 1920s. Savannah (AS-8) is furthest from the camera, in the left center. Bushnell (AS-2) is in the center.
    US Navy photo # NH 72935, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, donation of Lieutenant Gustave J. Freret, USN (Retired), 1970.    		 US Naval Historical Center web site
    Camden 107k Camden (AS-6) off Pensacola, FL., 23 December 1924. Ships in the distance are: Savannah (AS-8), in center, and Bushnell (AS-2), at left. The original print was autographed in June 1967 by Admiral Thomas C. Hart, USN (Retired), who used Camden as his flagship from May 1930 to January 1931, while he was Commander, Control Force, U.S. Fleet. He was a Rear Admiral at that time.
    US Navy photo # NH 55046, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center web site
    Camden 71k Camden (AS-6) off Gonaives, Haiti, in 1925, with several submarines alongside. Shawmut (CM-4) is in the left background.
    US Navy photo # NH 74636, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, donation of Lieutenant Gustave J. Freret, USN (Retired), 1971.    		 US Naval Historical Center web site
    Camden 98k Camden (AS-6) underway off Naval Air Station Pensacola, FL. 31 January 1927.
    US Navy photo # NH 99893, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center web site
    Camden 158k Camden (AS-6), Maryland (BB-46) and two "S" type submarines; and two V-1 class submarines, in port in May 1927.
    US Navy photo # NH 46418, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.    		 US Naval Historical Center web site
    Camden 169k Camden (AS-6) photographed circa the middle or later 1920s, with ten "S" type submarines alongside. The submarines are (on Camden's starboard side, from left to right):
    S-18 (SS-123);
    unidentified Electric Boat type "S-boat";
    S-19 (SS-124);
    S-12 (SS-117) and
    an unidentified Government type "S-boat".
    (on Camden's port side, from left to right):
    unidentified Government type "S-boat";
    S-7 (SS-112);
    S-8 (SS-113);
    S-9 (SS-114); and
    S-3 (SS-107).
    US Navy photo # NH 46418, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, collection of Vice Admiral Dixwell Ketcham, USN.    		 US Naval Historical Center web site
    Camden (IX-42)
    Camden 73k Camden (IX-42) at right and Seattle (IX-39) at Pier 92, North River, New York City, while serving as receiving ships during or shortly after World War II.
    US Navy photo # NH 89402, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, courtesy of Ted Stone, 1979.    		 US Naval Historical Center web site
    View the Camden (AS-6)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval Historical Center web site
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    Not Applicable to this Vessel
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    Submarine Tenders of the United States Navy
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    Last Updated 26 May 2006