LANCASTER

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 Sloop of War
Keel Laid December 1857 - Launched 20 October 1858


1. USS LANCASTER
   Commissioned 12 May 1859 - Decommissioned 19 March 1867
   Recommissioned 26 August 1869 - Decommissioned 31 July 1875
   Recommissioned 26 August 1881 - Decommissioned 7 September 1889
   Recommissioned 19 March 1891 - Decommissioned 30 June 1894
   Recommissioned 12 September 1895 - Decommissioned 31 December 1897
   Recommissioned 5 May 1898
   Reassigned 3 September 1898 as Gunnery Training Ship at Portsmouth, NH
   Decommissioned 1 May 1902
   Served as Receiving Ship at Philadelphia Navy Yard, 16 November 1903 - 31 March 1912
   Transferred to Bureau of Public Health Service 1 February 1913
   
   Stuck from Naval Register 31 December 1915
   Served as Quarantine Detention Ship at Reedy Island, DE. Quarantine Station, 1916-20
   Served at New York Quarantine Station 1920-29
   
   Sold 1929 - Broken up 1933

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 name of the ship (for example, Bushnell AG-32 / Sumner AGS-5 are different names for the same ship so there should be one set of pages for Bushnell and one set for Sumner). 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 Lancaster Covers Page 1     (1864-1909)

 

Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each name and/or commissioning period. 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

---

1st Commissioning 12 May 1859 to 19 March 1867

 

USPO CDS Mexico NY

c1865-01-09

N/A

Incoming mail to ship at Panama, New Granada

---

2nd Commissioning 26 August 1869 to 31 July 1875

 

Oval Ships Marking Unreadable CDS

1871-07-26

Courtesy of the Jim Myerson collection.

---

3rd Commissioning 26 August 1881 to 7 September 1889

 

Duplex Cancel Napoli (Naples) Italy

1882-11-22

Letter to Capt Henry C. Cochrane, USMC, mailed from Naples Italy on 22 November 1882, back stamped in Salerno Italy on 24 November 1882.

 

Duplex Cancel Brighton England

1884-10-15

N/A

Letter to Dr. S. Henderson Griffith USN, mailed from Brighton, England on 15 October 1884, back stamped in Lisbon, Portugal on 21 October 1884.

 

CDS Dakar Senegal

1885-04-08

Backstamped, Rio de Janeiro 8 April 1885 CDS, New York paid duplex 4 May 1885.

 

USPO "PAID" Duplex Cancel Philadelphia PA

1886-06-28

Letter to Dr. S. Henderson Griffith USN, mailed from Philadelphia PA on 28 June 1886, back stamped in London, England on 9 July 1886.

 

Philadelphia "PAID" duplex postmark

1886-06-28

Mock-up of the Dispatch Agents marking from the front of this cover

---

4th Commissioning 19 March 1891 to 30 June 1894

 

USPO Duplex Cancel Pasadena, CA.

1892-03-09

Addressed to Lt. David Daniels at Yokohama, Japan. Back stamped San Francisco, CA F.D. 10 March 1892, received Yokohama, Japan 2 April 1892

 

USPO Machine Cancel Washington D.C. San Francisco, CA F.D.

1893-10-28

Addressed to Lt. David Daniels at Yokohama, Japan. Postal card from The Navy Mutual Aid Association confirming assessment payment

---

 

USPO Flag Cancel Newport News VA

1904-10-01

Picture postcard showing "Drill on Board "USS Lancaster." Manuscript date of 29 September 1904.
Writer says: "Old Point Comfort. Nonie: Well my darling I hope to be with you in less than two months and what long ones they will seem. Your loving Frank".

---

Receiving Ship, League Island (Philadelphia) Navy Yard, 16 November 1903 - 31 March 1912

 

N/A

1909-05-18

N/A

Picture postcard. Receiving Ship LANCASTER is on the left, USS WYOMING BB-22 is on the right.

 

Other Information

USS LANCASTER earned the Civil War Medal and the Spanish Campaign Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - A city in southeastern Pennsylvania.

The ships sponsor was Miss Harriet Lane, niece and official hostess of President James Buchanan.

Four ships of the US Navy have borne the name LANCASTER - USS Lancaster (1855 Sidewheel Steamship), USS Lancaster (1858 Screw Sloop), USS Lancaster ID-2953 and USS Lancaster AK-193.

 

---

 

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.

 

---

Copyright 2024 Naval Cover Museum