TOPEKA IX 35

Ship Name and Designation History

This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.

Gunboat Built 1881 by Howaldtswerke, Kiel, Germany for the Peruvian Government Disguised under a Greek shipping company and completed as a freighter DIOGENES (Freighter/Cruiser) Sent to England to be outfitted with armament Originally intended to be named BAP CALLAO by the Peruvian Navy Impounded by England at the request of the Chilean Government (Peru's adversary) Sold to Thames Iron Works London circa 1889 because Peru could not afford to pay fees accrued through the years Remained laid up Almost sold to Japan 1895 (not delivered) Purchased by U.S. Navy 1898 and renamed USS TOPEKA (Gunboat) Commissioned April 2 1898 Converted to Gunboat May-June 1898 at the New York Navy Yard Decommissioned February 15 1899 Recommissioned August 15 1900 for training Decommissioned September 7 1905 Recommissioned June 14 1906 - Decommissioned November 21 1919 TOPEKA PG-35 Reclassified as Patrol Gunboat (PG-35) July 17 1920, while in reserve TOPEKA IX-35 Reclassified Miscellaneous Unclassified (IX) July 1 1921, while in reserve USS TOPEKA IX-35 Commissioned July 2 1923 - Decommissioned December 2 1929 Struck from Naval Register January 2 1930 Sold January 2 1930 to The Union Shipbuilding Co. Baltimore, MD for scrap

 

Naval Covers

This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each incarnation of the ship (ie, for each entry in the "Ship Name and Designation History" section). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).

Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.

1. Covers Page 1     (DATE RANGE)

 

Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each incarnation of the ship (ie, for each entry in the "Ship Name and Designation History" section). Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.

A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.
 
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the existing example.

 

Postmark Type --- Killer Bar Text	Date From to Date To	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

 

NO POSTMARKS REPORTED

DATE FROM to DATE TO

N/A

N/A

Note:

 

Other Information

NAMESAKE - Named for the city of Topeka Kansas

 

Additional Naming History Sources

Last Stand on Zombie Island website has an excellent write-up on the ship's history.

 

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If you have images or information to add to this page, then either contact the Curator or edit this page yourself and add it. See Editing Ship Pages for detailed information on editing this page.

 

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