MANCHURIA ID 1633

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.

Transport
Keel Laid 3 September 1902 by the New York Shipbuilding Co., Camden, NJ
Launched 2 November 1903 as MINNEKAHDA
Renamed Manchuria before completion


1. MANCHURIA (Passenger-Cargo Ship)
Operated by the Pacific Mail Steamship Co.
Sold 1915 to International Mercantile Marine Company and operated under the American Line
Acquired by U.S. Navy 10 April 1918 renamed


2. USS MANCHURIA ID-1633
Commissioned 25 April 1918 - Decommissioned 11 September 1919


3. MANCHURIA (Commercial Service)
Returned 1919 to the International Mercantile Marine Company and operated under the American Line


4. PRESIDENT JOHNSON (Commercial Service)
Sold 8 November 1928 to the Dollar Steamship Lines and renamed
Acquired by Maritime Commission 26 October 1938 and operated under the American President Lines


5. USAT PRESIDENT JOHNSON
Acquired by U.S. Army 29 November 1941
Transferred to Maritime Commission 26 April 1946


6. PRESIDENT JOHNSON (Commercial Service)
Returned to operation by American President Lines on 2 March 1946


7. SANTA CRUZ (Commercial Service)
Sold 1946 to the Tagus Navigational Co. of Panama City, Panama and renamed
Sold 1950 to Sociedad Empresas Maritimas S.A

Scrapped 1952 in Italy

 

Conflicting History Data

There is disagreement on history immediately after WWII

NavSource says:
     Sold to the Tagua Navigational Co. of Panama City, Panama and renamed Tagus
     Sold in 1947 to the Tronsmar Navigation Co. of Portugal and renamed Santa Cruz

Wikipedia says:
     [Sold] to Transmar Ltd. of Lisbon
     On 10 January 1947 ... sold to Tagus Navigational Co. of Panama City, Panama and renamed Santa Cruz.
This is opposite of NavSource and makes no mention of the ship being renamed to Tagus.
Also note the different spellings: "Tagus" vs "Tagua" and "Transmar" vs "Tronsmar". "Tagus" and "Transmar" are correct.

Lloyd’s Register of Shipping 1948 Steamers has an entry for Santa Cruz showing the owner as "Tagus Navigation Co S.A."
It also lists previous names: ex President Johnson-47 ex Manchuria
There is no mention of the ship being named Tagus.

NavSource also lists the scrapping year as 1962 but that is a typo. The correct year is 1952 - as noted in Wikpedia and other sources.

 

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 Manchuria Covers Page 1     (1918-19)

 

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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Post Office Established August 19 1918 - Disestablished September 11 1919

 

Locy Type 2rz

1919-05-21

Postcard. From the Jay Milewski collection.

 

USPO Machine Postmark New York, NY

1919-03-24

YMCA "Returning Home" card.

 

Other Information

NAMESAKE - A region northeast of China from which in 1644 the Mongolian race conquered China and established a dynasty

 

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