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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 bronze star in lieu of Transport clasp) - American Defense Service Medal (with "A" device) - 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 Caxias (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 Caxias (U-11)
  • Permanently transferred to Brazil under the Military Assistance Program in June 1953
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 20 July 1953
  • USS Orizaba (AP-24) earned one battle star for World War II service
  • Struck from the Brazilian Navy in 1960
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    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
    eight single ended boilers
    two Parsons steam turbines with reduction gear
    two propeller shafts, 4,500shp

    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image
    Size Image Description Source
    USS Orizaba (SP#1536)
    Orizaba
    092202440
    49k
    Namesake
    Orizaba - (Name retained) A city and municipality in the Mexican state of Veracruz.
    The valley of Orizaba, with the city in the middle distance and the Pico de Orizaba on the horizon.
    Photo by David H. Tuggy (PixEnglish) CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
    Tommy Trampp
    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 94k 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 Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 101700.
    Mike Green
    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 Naval History and Heritage Command # 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 Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 44915.
    US Naval Historical Center
    Orizaba 293k USS Orizaba (SP#1536) underway in harbor, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo from "A History Of The Transport Service: Adventures And Experiences Of United States Transports And Cruisers in the World War", by Vice Admiral Albert Gleaves, USN, Published by George H. Doran Company, New York
    Robert Hurst
    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
    Orizaba 62k USS Orizaba (SP#1536) probably printed on postal card ("AZO") stock. Although identified as SS Orizaba this is clearly a photo of the US Navy transport USS Orizaba as evidenced by the life rafts attached to her passenger decks.
    Post card issued by the Jewish Welfare Board.
    Tommy Trampp
    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 Naval History and Heritage Command 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
    US National Archives photo # 19-N-25873
    89k 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 #'s 19-N-258732, and 19-N-25872, US Navy Bureau of Ships photos now in the collections of the US National Archives, courtesy Shipscribe.com.
    Robert Hurst
    Orizaba
    US National Archives photo # 19-N-25872
    61k
    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 93k USS Orizaba (AP-24) near Norfolk Navy Yard, 17 November 1942. The ship's four 3"/23 guns have been replaced by 3"/50's and her .50 caliber machine guns have been replaced by 20mm guns.
    US National Archives, RG-19-LCM, Photo # 19-N-37279, a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives, courtesy Shipscribe.com.
    Mike Green
    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
    Orizaba 116k USS Orizaba (AP-24) on sea trials on 6 July 1945 after being refitted at Tampa, Florida, for loan to Brazil under Lend Lease. The hull markings on the bow and stern, "NTR-1," probably reflect her Brazilian classification as a Navio de Transporte.
    US National Archives, RG-19-LCM, Photo # 19-N-91267, a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives.
    Mike Green
    Duque de Caxias (U-11)
    Orizaba 21k Duque de Caxias (U-11) ship's badge. Tommy Trampp
    Orizaba 53k Ex-USS Orizaba (AP-24) in Brazilian service as Duque de Caxias (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 Caxias (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 Caxias (U-11) under way, circa 1950, location unknown.
    Official Brazilian Navy photo for from "Jane's Fighting Ships 1954-55"
    Robert Hurst
    Orizaba 122k Duque de Caxias (U-11) on the final leg of a midshipmen cruise docking at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Aboard are Brazil's future officers as well as midshipmen from six other South American nations and Mexico, 14 December 1954.
    Photo from George D. McDowell Philadelphia Evening Bulletin Collection, Temple University Libraries, Special Collections Research Center. Identifier P557144B.
    David Wright
    Orizaba 39k Duque de Caxias (U-11) in British waters, circa 1956 (Wright & Logan, Southsea, England).
    Photo from "Jane's Fighting Ships 1956-57"
    Robert Hurst
    Orizaba 190k Duque de Caxias (U-11) anchored in the harbor at Genoa, Italy, 8 July 1956. Photo by Carlo Martinelli
    Orizaba 46k Duque de Caxias (U-11) underway in harbor with tugs, date and location unknown.
    Brazil Navy photos
    Robert Hurst
    Orizaba 12k

    USS Orizaba (SP#1536 / AP-24)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR. White, Richard Drace, USN (USNA 1899)27 May 1918 - 1919
    02CDR. Freeman, Charles Seymour, USN (USNA 1900) :VADM1919 - 4 September 1919
     Decommissioned4 September 1919 - 15 June 1941
    03CAPT. Gulbranson, Clarence, USN (USNA 1912)15 June 1941 - 25 March 1943
    04CDR. Kelly, Laurence Edward, USN (USNA 1917)25 March 1943 - 7 March 1944
    05CAPT. Conover Jr., James Potter, USN (USNA 1917)7 March 1944 - 10 July 1944
    06LCDR. Bishopp, Newton C., USNR10 July 1944 - 11 October 1944
    07CAPT. Conover Jr., James Potter, USN (USNA 1917)11 October 1944 - 15 November 1944
    08LCDR. Bishopp, Newton C., USNR15 November 1944 - 26 March 1945
    09CAPT. Conover Jr., James Potter, USN (USNA 1917)26 March 1945 - 1 April 1945
    10LCDR. Bishopp, Newton C., USNR1 April 1945 - 23 April 1945
    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
    Postal Covers related to the ship
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 7 July 2023