COLUMBIA CA 16

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.

USS COLUMBIA Cruiser No. 12 (C-12)
Commissioned April 23 1894 - Decommissioned May 13 1897
Recommissioned March 15 1898 - Decommissioned March 31 1899
Recommissioned as Receiving Ship August 31 1902 - November 8 1903
Reassigned to Atlantic Training Squadron November 9 1903
Decommissioned May 3 1907
Recommissioned as Flagship - Submarine Flotilla June 22 1915 - April 19 1917
Reassigned as Flagship - Squadron 5, Patrol Force April 21 1917 - July 1917
Reassigned to Cruiser Force July 1917 as Convoy Escort
Reassigned as Flagship - Squadron 2, Destroyer Force January 7 1919 - May 29 1919
USS COLUMBIA CA-16
Reclassified (CA) July 17 1920
Decommissioned June 29 1921
Renamed OLD COLUMBIA November 17 1921, While in reserve

Stricken January 26 1922
Sold June 21 1922

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.

Covers Page 1 (1907,1919,1921)

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

3rd Commissioning August 31 1902 to May 3 1907

USPO Flag
Machine cancel

Boston MA

1907-04-13

Picture postcard, copyright date of 1898.

4th Commissioning June 22 1915 to June 29 1921

Locy Type 1z

1919-01-20
to
1919-01-20

Sailor's mail

Locy Type
3s (AC)

1921-06-11
to
1921-06-11

Picture postcard of Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, sender was a visitor on the ship.

Locy Type
3s (AC)

1921-06-11
to
1921-06-11

Picture postcard of Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, sender was a visitor on the ship.

Other Information

NAMESAKE - Named for the city of Columbia, South Carolina.

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.