VIXEN PG 53

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.

Patrol Gunboat
Built 1929 by Krupp Germania Werft, Kiel, Germany


1. ORION (Private Yacht)
Owned by German-American woollen manufacturer Julius Forstmann
Purchased by U.S. Navy November 13 1940
Converted to Patrol Gunboat


2. USS VIXEN PG-53
   Commissioned February 25 1941 - Decommissioned May 24 1946
   
   Struck from Navy Register July 3 1946
   Transferred to War Shipping Administration June 21 1947
   
   
3. ORION (Commercial Service)
Sold on 21 January 1947, name reverted, and operated as a cruise ship in the Panama region


4. ARGONAUT (Commercial Service)
Rebuilt in 1965 from the hull upwards and turned into a luxury cruise ship


5. REGINA MARIS (Commercial Service)
Sold 1995 to Memnon Tours of Cairo, Egypt, and renamed
Laid up in Alexandria, Egypt, from late 2001 until 2004
Sold 2004 and taken to Greece to be used as a floating hotel during the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics
Sold for scrap once the Games were over

Broken up in 2005

 

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    (1941-46)

 

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	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

 

Locy Type FDPS 3r "FIRST DAY / CONCELLATION"

1941-03-02

"CANCELLATION" spelled incorrectly in killer text

 

Locy Type 2z

1946-02-13

Note:

 

Locy Type 3r (A-BBB)

1941-05-01

Cachet by Henry S. Wright

 

Locy Type 3z (BTB)

1942-05-19

Note:

 

Locy Type 9v

1941-03-21

Mark from back of cover

 

Locy Type P [9v with name removed]

1944-06-07

Mark from back of cover

 

Locy Type P [9v with name removed]

1944-06-07

Notice the "V" killers on the stamps. Vixen or Victory?

 

Other Information

NAMESAKE - A female fox

 

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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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