USS Vixen (PG-53)
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| History | |
|---|---|
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| Name: | USS Vixen |
| Namesake: | Vixen |
| Builder: | Krupp Germaniawerft, Kiel, Germany |
| Launched: | 1929 |
| Acquired: | by purchase, 13 November 1940 |
| Commissioned: | 25 February 1941 |
| Decommissioned: | 24 May 1946 |
| Struck: | 3 July 1946 |
| Fate: |
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| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Gunboat |
| Displacement: | 3,774 long tons (3,835 t) |
| Length: | 333 ft 2 in (101.55 m) |
| Beam: | 46 ft 7 in (14.20 m) |
| Draft: | 16 ft (4.9 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × 3,600 bhp (2,685 kW) Krupp diesel engines, 2 shafts |
| Speed: | 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Complement: | 279 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: |
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USS Vixen (PG-53) was a gunboat of the United States Navy during World War II, in which it served as a flagship to the Commanders of the Atlantic Fleet.
Built as the Orion by Krupp Germaniawerft at Kiel, Germany in 1929, the steel-hulled yacht was purchased from German-American woollen manufacturer Julius Forstmann on 13 November 1940. Converted to a gunboat at Brooklyn, New York, by the Sullivan Drydock and Repair Corporation, the erstwhile pleasure craft was renamed Vixen and designated PG-53. Commissioned at her conversion yard on 25 February, with Comdr. Pal L. Meadows in command, Vixen got underway for the Caribbean on 5 March 1941.
During her shakedown cruise, the gunboat called at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before heading north for Norfolk, Virginia. She then cruised up the eastern seaboard to New London, Connecticut, and back to Norfolk again before she returned to New London on 23 May to assume duties as flagship for Commander, Submarines, Atlantic Fleet, (ComSubLant), Rear Admiral Richard S. Edwards.
The gunboat served Admiral Edwards throughout 1941. During this time, she participated in ceremonies off the Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire, on 22 June, honoring the crew of USS O-9 - a training submarine which had gone down during practice diving tests on 20 June and had failed to surface. From 30 July to 13 August, she took part in Fleet maneuvers off New River, North Carolina; voyaged to Bermuda in October ; and cruised to Argentia, Newfoundland; and Casco Bay, Maine, before returning to New London on 6 December - the day before Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.
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