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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

TS Empire State (IX-38)
ex
 USS Procyon (AG-11) (1921 - 1931)


1913-International Radio Call Sign:
Nan - Unit - Rush - Fox
 NURF
Antares Class Miscellaneous Auxiliary:
  • Laid down in 1919, as SS Shaume, under a USSB contract at American International Ship Building Corp., Hog Island, PA.
  • Completed and turned over to the United States Shipping Board, 28 June 1919
  • Acquired by the Navy, 8 November 1921
  • Commissioned USS Procyon (AG-11), 30 November 1921, LT. Bertram David in command
  • Decommissioned, 1 April 1931
  • Assigned on loan to New York Maritime Academy, renamed TS Empire State (IX-38), 15 July 1931
  • Returned to the Maritime Commission, 11 April 1940
  • Assigned on loan to the US Merchant Marine Academy as TS American Pilot, circa 1941
  • Transferred to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, renamed TS Bay State II, date unknown
  • Struck from the Naval Vessel Register, date unknown
  • Laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, Terrytown, N.Y., 28 June 1946
  • Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 3 March 1948, to American Shipwreckers Inc.
    Specifications:
    Displacement 4,060 t (lt). 5,542 t.(fl),
    Length 380'
    Beam 54'
    Draft 24' 5"
    Speed 11.5kts.
    Complement 152
    Armament
    two 6-pdrs (authorized but not installed at time of commissioning)
    1941
    two single 5"/51 gun mounts
    four 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount
    eight single 20mm AA gun mounts
    Propulsion
    three oil fired Babcock and Wilcox boilers
    one 2,500shp Curtis geared steam turbine
    one propeller shaft
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		Size Image Description Source
    USS Procyon (AG-11)
    Procyon
    100200208    		 46k
    Namesake
    Procyon is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Minor and usually the eighth-brightest star in the night sky    		 Tommy Trampp
    Procyon 119k USS Procyon (AG-11), circa 1921-1922, at the beginning of her Navy service. She does not yet have the numerous airports in the hull that distinguished this class from the Capella (AK-13) class.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command. Photo # NH 44361, courtesy Shipscribe.com     		Mike Green
    Procyon
    094901116    		 225k USS Procyon (AG-11) docked at 1010 dock. Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, circa 1922.
    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command. Photo # NH 118008    		 Robert Hurst
    Procyon 634k Ships in "Dress Ship" decoration for Washington's Birthday 22 February 1924 in Target Bay, Calebra, West Indies. Identifiable ships are from left to right:
    (far left) USS La Vallette (DD-315),
    USS Hull (DD-330),
    USS Noa (DD-343), (between Hull and Noa in the background)
    USS Mervine (DD-322), (behind Hull)
    USS Mullany (DD-325), (center)
    USS S-20 (SS-125) directly behind the submarine is the flagship USS Procyon (AG 11). The other ships to the right in the photo are unknown.    		 Robert M. Cieri
    Procyon 391k USS Procyon (AG 11) enroute to the Panama Canal Zone, February 1924.
    US Navy photo    		 Robert M. Cieri
    Procyon 1147k USS Procyon (AG 11) moored at Mare Island Navy Yard, 1 July 1926. YD 33 is in the background and the civilian ferry Vallejo is to the right of Procyon.
    File name: AG 11 6127-26, Navy Photo, 7/1/26.    		 Darryl Baker
    Procyon 100k USS Procyon (AG-11) at New York, 29 April 1927, while serving as flagship of the Fleet Base Force and of its Train Squadron Two, which normally operated with the Battle Fleet in the Pacific.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command. Photo # NH 44362, courtesy Shipscribe.com.     		Mike Green
    Procyon 144k USS Procyon (AG-11) in port with battleships of the Battle Fleet circa 1928-1929. Behind her is a battleship of the Colorado (BB-45) class and to the left is a modernized unit of the New York (BB-34) class with another of the "big five" behind her. The New York class completed modernization in 1927. Procyon still has a kingpost and boom between the bridge and amidships deckhouse, although a light deck now fills the gap in this area.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command. Photo # NH 86626, courtesy Shipscribe.com    		 Mike Green
    Procyon 199k USS Procyon (AG-11) underway, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo    		 Jim Kurrasch
    Battleship Iowa Pacific Battleship Center
    Merchant Marine Training Ship
    Procyon 110k US Merchant Marine Academy training ship TS Empire State in the Potomac River near Washington, D.C., 16 June 1936, as training ship for the New York Merchant Marine Academy. Formerly USS Procyon (AG-11), she underwent relatively few changes in her conversion to a training ship, although she has lost her kingposts between the bridge and smokestack.
    US National Archives, RG-19-LCM, Photo # 19-N-26702 a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives, courtesy Shipscribe.com.    		 Mike Green
    Procyon 64k US Merchant Marine Academy training ship TS American Pilot underway off New York City as a civilian merchant marine training ship between 1940 and 1948.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 105258. Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Retired), 2007, courtesy Shipscribe.com.    		 Robert Hurst
    Procyon 47k Massachusetts Maritime Academy training ship TS Bay State II at anchor, date and location unknown. Mass. Maritime Academy
    Procyon
    094901117    		 209k TS Empire State (IX-38), tied up pierside, at New York, date unknown.
    Photographer unknown, U.S. National Archives at College Park - Still Pictures., Digital Public Library of America, via its partner Digital Public Library of America. DPLA identifier: 83172aa666d4c2dd95e1748d48c86979, National Archives Identifier: 6928915.    		 Robert Hurst
    Procyon
    094901101    		 89k Massachusetts Maritime Academy training ship TS Bay State II returning to the Hyannis, MA. campus from her annual summer training cruise in 1938.
    Photos by Life Magazine photographer Hansel Mieth. Used for educational and non-commercial purpose.    		 John Chiquoine
    Procyon
    094901112    		 252k
    Procyon
    094901113    		 261k
    Procyon
    094901114    		 282k
    Procyon
    094901115    		 264k
    USS Procyon (AG-11/ IX-38)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01LT. David, Bertram30 November 1921 - August 1922
    02CAPT. Berry, Robert LawrenceAugust 1922 - July 1923
    03CDR. Freyer, Frank Barrows1 October 1923 - 4 December 1924
    04CDR. Orr, Henry Atwood4 December 1924 - 10 June 1925
    05CDR. Smead, Walter Albert10 June 1925 - 23 May 1927
    06CAPT. Frught, Max Mike23 May 1927 - 3 February 1930
    07CDR. Sahm, Leo3 February 1931 - 1 April 1931
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    MARAD Vessel History Database
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Service Force Ship Type Index Back To The Miscellaneous Auxiliary (AG) Photo Index Back To The Miscellaneous Unclassified Ship (IX) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 2 February 2024