CHICAGO IX 5

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 CHICAGO Protected Cruiser
Commissioned April 17 1889 - Decommissioned May 1 1895
Recommissioned December 1 1889 - Decommissioned December 3 1903
Recommissioned August 15 1904 - Decommissioned August 27 1908
Recommissioned In Reserve May 1908
Assigned to Naval Academy Practice Squadron August 27 1908
Recommissioned (Full) August 28 1908 - Decommissioned May 13 1909
Recommissioned In Reserve May 14 1909
Assigned to Naval Academy Practice Squadron
Decommissioned January 14 1910
Recommissioned In Reserve January 23 1910
Assigned to Massachusetts Naval Militia April 12 1916
Recommissioned In Reserve April 26 1916
Assigned to Pennsylvania Naval Militia April 5 1917
Recommissioned (Full) April 6 1917
USS CHICAGO CA-14
Designated (CA) July 17 1920
USS CHICAGO CL-14
Reclassified Light Cruiser (CL) August 8 1921
Decommissioned September 30 1923
Served as Barracks Ship for Pearl Harbor until 1935
Reclassified and renamed Miscellaneous Unclassified ALTON IX-5 July 16 1928, While in reserve

Sold May 15 1936
Foundered and sank in mid-Pacific July 1936 while being towed from Honolulu to San Francisco

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 (1909-21)

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

Post Office Established April 19 1909 - Disestablished 1909

Locy Type
1

1909-06-22

As Protected Cruiser
Sailor's Mail

Locy Type
1

1909-08-15

As Protected Cruiser
Picture postcard of a Steamer at Richmond, ME

Post Office Reestablished 1912 - Disestablished 1913

Post Office Reestablished 1917 - Disestablished October 6 1919

Locy Type
1z

1918-05-23

As Protected Cruiser
Official Business

Locy Type
3 (AC)

"{Unreadable} / C.O.POST.N.Y."

1917-11-27

As Protected Cruiser
Sailor's Mail, passed by censor.
Owner's note - "Postmark looks like Type 3b (AC-XXO) and top killer is possibly "U.S.S. CHICAGO"

Locy Type
3 (AC)

1919-10-21

As Protected Cruiser

Locy Type P
(SUBDIV 14 T-3,
"USS/CHICAGO" in killers)

1921-10-01

As CL-14

Other Information

Notable highlights -
Flagship - Squadron of Evolution / North Atlantic Squadron 12/21/1889 - 05/31/1893
Participent - International Naval Review 1893
Flagship - European Station 1893-1895
Participent - Naval Parade/Dewey Celebration 1899
Flagship - South Atlantic Squadron 1899-1901
Flagship - European Station 1901-1903
Participent - Presidential Review 1903
Flagship - Pacific Station 1905-1908
Humanitarian Service - Evacuated 20,000 refugees of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake
Flagship - Submarine Force, Atlantic 1917-1919
Flagship - Cruiser Division 2, Pacific 1919
Other Service - Submarine Division 14 as a tender at Mare Island, CA and Submarine Base, Pearl Harbor, T.H. 1919-1923
Famous Ship Captain - Commander Chester W. Nimitz 07/1920 - 04/1922. He was Aide and later Chief of Staff to Commander, Submarine Force, Atlantic and rose to the rank of Fleet Admiral WWII

NAMESAKE - Named for the city of Chicago, Illinois.

Four United States Navy ships have been named Chicago, USS Chicago IX-5, USS Chicago CA-29, USS Chicago CG-11 and USS Chicago SSN-721.

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.