HARRISBURG TT 1663

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.

Troop Transport Built as a steel three-masted steamship in 1888 with maiden voyage in 1889 SS CITY OF PARIS (Passenger Liner) Owned by Inman Line with UK registry PARIS (Passenger Liner) In 1893, Inman Line was folded into American Line, the ship was transferred to American registry and its name was shortened In 1898, "PARIS" was acquired by the US Navy as an auxiliary cruiser and renamed USS YALE (Auxiliary Cruiser) Commissioned May 2 1898 - Decommissioned September 2 1898 Returned to the American Line. Name reverted to PARIS PARIS (Passenger Liner) Run aground on the Manacles, England May 21 1899 and remained there until July 11 1899. Refloated and sent to Belfast, Ireland, for extensive refit. PHILADELPHIA (Passenger Liner) Renamed and resumed passenger operation in 1901 Acquired by the US Navy in 1918 and renamed USS HARRISBURG ID-1663 Commissioned May 29 1918 - Decommissioned September 25 1919 During WWI "HARRISBURG" made four voyages to Europe, two to Liverpool and two to Brest, with troops and supplies, and made six additional trips after the war carrying veterans of the European fighting home to the United States. Returned to her owner, the American Line, for passenger service. PHILADELPHIA (Passenger Liner) Sold to the New York-Naples Steamship Co. in 1922 and scrapped in 1923.

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 Harrisburg TT-1663 Covers Page 1     (1919)

 

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

SS PHILADELPHIA

 

UNITED STATES / SEAPOST cancel

1913-03-22

N/A

"As the merchant ship PHILADELPHIA she snagged a contract with the U.S. Post Office Department to carry mail across the Atlantic. This was a big deal, not for the small income they got from the POD, but because it gave the ship the classification of United States Mail Steamer (USMS). This was an enormous advantage because it gave the ship priority in entering and clearing harbor just because it was carrying mail. This was important in the early 1900s when New York Harbor was so jammed with ships that it could take you a couple of days just to get a pier to tie up to." (Dave Kent)

USS HARRISBURG

 

Locy Type 3(AC)

Manuscript Aug 11th 1919

Picture postcard of Cruiser GUICHEN at Brest France. Addressed to USS Panther AD-6

 

Locy Type 2z w/ SLK

1919

Note: New Postmark, reported 2016.

 

N/A

N/A

N/A

Picture postcard of USS HARRISBURG. Compliments of the Army and Navy Chaplains

 

N/A

N/A

N/A

Picture postcard of USS HARRISBURG and USS AMERICA enroute to France..

 

Other Information

NAMESAKES -
(CITY of PARIS / PARIS) - The capital of France
(YALE) - Ivy League College
(PHILADELPHIA) - City in Pennsylvania
(HARRISBURG) -The capital of Pennsylvania.

 

---

 

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