BUFFALO AD 8

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.

Screw Steamer / Buffalo Class Destroyer Tender Built 1892 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Newport News, VA Completed in August 1893 EL CID (Commercial Service) Owned by the Southern Pacific Railroad's Morgan Line NICTHEROY (Brazilian Naval Service) Sold to Brazil in October 1893 and renamed Purchased by U.S. Navy 11 July 1898 and renamed "BUFFALO" USS BUFFALO (Auxiliary Cruiser) Commissioned In Ordinary 18 July 1898 for fitting out Commissioned in Full 22 September 1898 - Decommissioned 3 July 1899 USS BUFFALO (Training Ship) Recommissioned 2 April 1900 - Decommissioned April 1905 USS BUFFALO (Transport) Recommissioned 17 November 1906 - Decommissioned 27 January 1915 Recommissioned 29 November 1915 USS BUFFALO (Destroyer Tender) Converted to Destroyer Tender 1918 USS BUFFALO AD-8 Designated (AD) 17 July 1920 - Decommissioned 15 November 1922 BUFFALO (Barracks Ship) Barracks Ship (San Diego CA) 15 November 1922 - 27 May 1927 Struck from Naval Register 27 May 1927 BUFFALO (Commercial Service) Sold September 1927. Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1929 lists the owner as "Madrigal & Co." SIRIUS (Commercial Service) Renamed by 1933 Broken up in 1933

 

Conflicting History Data

Lloyd's Register of Shipping has a different early history.
In its 1929 edition, the ship's name is listed as BUFFALO, owned by "Madrigal & Co."
and has prior names: Nictheroy, Yosemite, and El Sud.

The 1890s editions of Lloyd's have no mention of an El Cid but do have an entry for El Sud indicating
it was built in 1892 by Newport News Shipbuilding and owned by "Southern Pacific Co."
The entries for Nictheroy say it was built in Rio de Janeiro in 1892.
The 1899 edition has an entry for Yosemite (ex El Sud) and lists the owner as "United States Government".

The Newport News Shipbuilding page at Shipbuilding.com has entries for both El Sud and El Cid:
El Sud, Hull #3, for Morgan Line, delivered June 27, 1892. "Later aux. cruiser Yosemite 1898, foundered 1900"
El Cid, Hull #6, for Morgan Line, delivered August 24, 1893. "To Brazil as Nicheroy, later Buffalo 1898, AD 8 1909, sold as Sirius 1929, scrapped 1933"

Somewhere along the lines it appears that Lloyd's got the two ships mixed up.

 

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. USS Buffalo AD-8 Covers Page 1     (1901-1917)

 

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

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2nd Commissioning April 2 1900 to April 1905

 

USPO Duplex Cancel San Juan, Puerto Rico

1901-12-01

As Training Vessel

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3rd Commissioning November 17 1906 to January 27 1915

 

Locy Type 1 (C)

1909-02-27

Transport

 

Locy Type 2

1914-06-15

Transport. Picture postcard

 

Locy Type 9v (C)

1911-10-20

N/A

Cut Square.

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4th Commissioning November 29 1915 to November 15 1922

 

Locy Type 3 (AC)

1917-02-03

Transport. Picture postcard

 

Other Information

USS BUFFALO earned the Navy Expeditionary Medal, the Philippine Campaign Medal, the China Relief Expedition Medal, the Mexican Service Medal and the World War I Victory Medal w/ Asiatic and Mobile Base Clasps during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - Named for Buffalo NY.

Five ships of the US Navy have borne the name BUFFALO - USS Buffalo (1813 3-gun Sloop), USS Buffalo AD-8, BUFFALO CL-99, USS Buffalo CL-110 (Canceled on 12 August 1945) and USS Buffalo SSN-715. The first USS Buffalo was named for the Bison, the others for the city.

 

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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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