SWAN AVP 7

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.

Lapwing Class Minesweeper
Keel Laid December 10 1917 at Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co., Mobile, AL
Launched July 4 1918


1. USS SWAN Minesweeper No. 34
Commissioned January 31 1919


2. USS SWAN AM-34
Designated (AM) February 17 1920
Decommissioned May 23 1922
Recommissioned June 23 1923
Designated Minesweeper For Duty With Aircraft April 30 1931
Decommissioned December 21 1933
Recommissioned April 2 1934


3. USS SWAN AVP-7
Redesignated Small Seaplane Tender (AVP) January 22 1936
Present at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941
Decommissioned December 13 1945

Struck from Naval Register January 8 1946
Transferred October 12 1946 to Maritime Commission at Newport, RI for disposal


4. UMATILLA (Commercial Service)
   Acquired 1956 by Max W. Peterson for use as a Tugboat and renamed
   Acquired 1967 by Darrell V. Boylan for use as a Passenger Vessel
   Used in 1970 as a Tow Boat
   Acquired 1975 by Udra L. Welch of Newport, OR
   Acquired 1978 by Jay Pansing of Gold Beach, OR for use as a Fishing Boat
   Acquired 1980 by Ruth Ann Johnson of South Beach, OR
   Acquired 1988 by Douglas L. Hadsell of Newport, OR
   
   Fate unknown

 

Conflicting History Data

Wikipedia and other sources indicate that the ship was scrapped in 1946.

NavSource indicates the ship went into commercial service until at least 1988.

The entry for SWAN in Greg H. Williams' book World War II U.S. Navy Vessels in Private Hands (page 185) matches the history provided by NavSource.

Merchant Vessels of the United States 1957 has an entry on page 544 listing a tugboat named UMATILLA with Official Number 271934 as owned by Max W. Peterson of Seattle, Washington. In its "Former Names of Merchant Vessels Showing Present Names" section on page 728 there is an entry for SWAN (U.S.N.) as a former name for UMATILLA.

Merchant Vessels of the United States 1965 has an entry on page 715 listing a tugboat named UMATILLA with Official Number 271934 as owned by Darrel V. Boylan of Seattle, Washington. Note that this is two years prior to when NavSource says he became the owner.

Merchant Vessels of the United States 1989, 31 March 1989, Volume 1 has an entry on page 1-2484 listing a fishing boat named UMATILLA with Official Number 271934 as owned by Douglas L. Hadsell.

In general, just because a ship is listed as being sold for scrap doesn't mean that it was actually scrapped. However, what is presented here is not conclusive evidence either way. It is still possible that the original entry in Merchant Vessels of the United States incorrectly associated SWAN with UMATILLA. More information is required to resolve the conflict.

For now, we will leave UMATILLA as a valid incarnation of SWAN.

 

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. Swan Covers Page 1    (1928-43)

 

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

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Post Office Reestablished October 2 1926 - Disestablished November 17 1945

 

Locy Type 3s (AC) "COCO SOLO / CANAL ZONE"

1928-04-23

As AM-34

 

Locy Type 3s (BC-BTT)

1934-10-27

As AM-34

 

Locy Type 3s (BC-BTT) "PEARL / HARBOR, TH"

1937-12-25

As AVP-7
Christmas Day, cachet by Walter G. Crosby

 

Locy Type 3s (BC-BTT) "PEARL HARBOR / HAWAII"

1939-12-25

As AVP-7
Christmas Day, cachet by William F Schlechter
 

Locy Type 3s (BC-BTT)

1941-08-30

As AVP-7
Cancel device showing distortion (same device as 1934 above)
 

Locy Type 9v

1943-07-01 to 1943-07-15

As AVP-7
Mark from back of cover
 

Locy Type SLPb (Unlisted)

1933-12-21

As AM-34

 

Other Information

SWAN earned 1 Battle Star for WWII service
* Pearl Harbor December 7 1941

NAMESAKE - Named for any of various heavy-bodied, long-necked, mostly pure white aquatic birds, related to but larger than the goose.

 

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