USS Edgecombe (ID-3894)
In the port of Rotterdam, Holland, on 16 March 1919 delivering a cargo of food stuffs for the U. S. Food Administration.
This freighter was commissioned at the Puget Sound Navy Yard on 27 December 1918, transited to the East Coast with general cargo, made one food relief voyage to Europe, and was decommissioned at New Orleans and returned to the Shipping Board on 25 April 1919. The idle ship was reacquired by the Navy in late 1921 as Rigel (AD-13).
Photo No. NH 102944
Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command
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USS Altair (AD-11)
Photographed circa the early 1920s.
Photo No. NH 57796
Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command
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USS Altair (AD-11)
Photographed circa the early 1920s.
Photo No. NH 69309
Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command
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USS Rigel (AD-13)
At San Diego circa the mid-1920s.
The raked masts and smokestack behind her belong to USS Buffalo (AD-8).
Photo No. NH 1874
Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command
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USS Denebola (AD-12)
In use at the Norfolk Navy Yard in April 1932 as barracks ship for the crew of the battleship Idaho during that ship's modernization.
Photo No. Unknown (Houser Collection)
Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command
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USS Altair (AD-11)
Photographed circa the early 1930s.
The deckhouse on the stern has acquired a second level.
Photo No. None
Source: Shipscribe
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USS Altair (AD-11)
Photographed circa the late 1930s.
The deckhouse on the stern has been further expanded.
Photo No. None
Source: Shipscribe
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USS Denebola (AD-12)
Probably shown departing Baltimore, Md., in April 1940 after completion of restoration there.
Between January and April 1940 the Bethlehem Steel Co. at Baltimore put her propulsion machinery, repair shops, and other interior spaces into operating order and replaced her wooden deckhouses (including the bridge) with steel structures.
Photo No. None
Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command (SH files)
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USS Denebola (AD-12)
Shown after completion of alterations and installation of armament at Baltimore and Philadelphia in June 1940.
Most of her boat deck has been enclosed, pairs of 5"/51 guns have been installed fore and aft, and four 3"/50 guns have been mounted near the smokestack.
Photo No. Unknown
Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-19-LCM
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USS Rigel (AD-13)
At San Diego on 9 April 1941, one day before being reclassified as a Base Repair Ship, ARb-1.
She is moored next to the marine railway at the Destroyer Base and is helping to fit out the nearby fishing vessels as small patrol craft (YP) or minesweepers (AMc). This semi-active ship appears to have received few if any alterations since the 1920s.
Photo No. NH 95609 (detail)
Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command
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USS Altair (AD-11)
At the Mare Island Navy Yard on 6 June 1941.
The deckhouse on her boat deck has been extended forward and armament has been fitted. Two 3"/50 guns are located just forward of the after deckhouse and two more are mounted forward of the foremast.
Photo No. 19-N-25677
Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-19-LCM
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USS Denebola (AD-12)
Photographed on 11 March 1943 near the Boston Navy Yard.
The forward port and after starboard 5"/51 guns have been removed and the antiaircraft armament has been strengthened.
Photo No. 19-N-41646
Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-19-LCM
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USS Altair (AD-11)
In Hampton Roads on 26 August 1943.
The deckhouse on the stern, with its additional antiaircraft guns on top, is now the tallest structure on the ship except for the smokestack and masts.
Photo No. 80-G-79948
Source: U.S. National Archives, RG-80-G
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USS Rigel (AR-11)
Photographed circa 1945-1946.
The ship received extensive repairs and alterations to her superstructure at Pearl Harbor between July 1941 and April 1942 and then served continuously in the western Pacific through the end of the war.
Photo No. NH 83854
Source: U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command
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