OZAMA

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.

Built 1916 by the Detroit Shipbuilding Co., Wyandotte, MI


1. SS OZAMA (Commercial Service)
Owned and operated by the Atlantic Gulf & West Indies S.S. Lines out of New York.
Official Number: 214562

Acquired by U.S. Navy December 24 1917


2. USS OZAMA (Cargo Ship)
Commissioned December 24 1917 - Decommissioned February 13 1919
Carried naval mines to keep naval mine bases in Scotland supplied

[Note: Previously listed as having hull designation and number "SP-9643" but, per Wikipedia: "Unlike many of the former merchant ships the Navy acquired in 1917 and 1918 for use in the war, Ozama did not receive a Navy identification number (Id. No.)."]


3. SS OZAMA (Commercial Service)
Returned to Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Steamship Line after decommissioning
Sold 1923-1924? to New York & Porto Rico S.S. Co. Inc., name retained


4. SS MALMÖ (Commercial Service) (alt spelling: Malmo)
Sold in 1928 to SydSvenska Rederi A/B of Sweden (under directorship of S. P. Larsson of Malmö, Sweden) and renamed

Wrecked on Island of Ameland, Holland on 17 November 1928.

Conflicting History Data

1. NavSource says the ship was commissioned into the U.S. Navy on 6 December 1917 but was delivered to the Navy on 24 December 1917. Although not impossible, it looks a little odd.


2. The year of sale to New York & Porto Rico S.S. Co. Inc. is either 1921 per Ships Nostalgia or 1925 per NavSource  (Wikipedia provides no history beyond 1919).
   The online Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1921 Steamers shows the owner as "Atlantic Gulf & West Indies S.S. Lines" but it is manually lined out and "New York & Porto Rico SSCo" is typed below it. The entries for Ozama in the 1922 and 1923 books have similar markings. Lloyd’s Register of Shipping 1923-1924 Steamers shows only "New York & Porto Rico SSCo" as the original text for the owner name. This would indicate that the sale took place no later than 1924 (the book says it covers "From 1st July, 1928, to the 30th June, 1924."). However, it is unclear who made the corrections to the 1921, 1922, and 1923 books. Was it done retroactively by the owner who bought the books or was it done by Lloyds? Given the confusion, I chose to use "1923-1924" as the year of sale but with a question mark at the end.

 

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     (DATE RANGE)

 

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

 

NO POSTMARKS REPORTED

DATE FROM to DATE TO

N/A

N/A

Note:

 

Other Information

NAMESAKE - A river in The Dominican Republic

 

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