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Gunboat Photo Archive

Vixen (PG-53)



Call sign:
Nan - Easy - Roger - William
Patrol Gunboat:

  • The sixth Vixen was built in 1929 as the steel-hulled yacht Orion by Krupp Germania Werft, Kiel, Germany
  • Acquired by the Navy 13 November 1940
  • Converted to a Patrol Gunboat by the Sullivan Drydock and Repair Co., Brooklyn, NY;
  • Commissioned USS Vixen (PG-53), 25 February 1941 at Brooklyn, NY
  • Decommissioned, 24 May 1946
  • Struck from the Navy Register 3 July 1946
  • Transferred to the War Shipping Administration 21 January 1947 and sold
  • Currently in service as the M/V Regina Maris with Memnon Tours of Cairo, Egypt.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 3,774 t
  • Length 333' 2"
  • Beam 46' 5"
  • Draft 16' 11"
  • Speed 15 kts.
  • Complement 279
  • Armament: Four 3"/50 dual purpose mounts, seven .50 cal. machine guns, two .30 cal. machine guns and two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Two 3,600bhp Krupp diesel engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Vixen (PG 53)
    Vixen 71k
    Namesake:

    Vixen - A female fox

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 24 November 2020
    Vixen 52k Photo enhanced by Tom Kermen Hyperwar U.S. Navy in WWII
    Vixen 59k 16 June 1943
    Photo from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships    		 Original photo: Hyperwar U.S. Navy in WWII
    Replacement photo: Robert Hurst
    Vixen 94k National Archives photo Joe Radigan
    Vixen 168k c. 1940s Tommy Trampp
    Vixen 44k c. 1942
    Vixen 83k c. 1943
    U.S. Navy photo
    Vixen 104k 26 August 1943
    Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
    Vixen departing Halifax after refueling. With escorts John J. Powers (DE 528) and John M. Bermingham (DE 530) they were in transit from Argentia, Newfoundland, Canada to the Casco Bay area of Maine, and was in Halifax only a few hours
    Photo from Nova Scotia Archives, Jefferson Collection    		 John Chiquoine
    Vixen 97k
    Vixen 72k 11 April 1944 Robert Hurst
    Vixen 73k c. 1945
    Portland, ME
    Photo enhanced by Tom Kermen    		 YN3 Mell Nelson, who served on CINCLANTFLT staff under ADM Jonas H. Ingram during World War II
    M/V Regina Maris
    Regina Maris 44k c. 2001
    Pireus, Greece
    		 © Alekis Lindström via Michael Vincent
    View the Vixen (PG-53)
    DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway website
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR Pal Lamar Meadows, USN - USNA Class of 191825 February 1941 - 1942
    02LCDR John Goodman Blanche, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 19251942 - 1943
    03LCDR David Nicoll, USNR1944
    Courtesy of Bill Gonyo and Wolfgang Hechler
    Back to The Main Photo Index Back to the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Ship Index Back to the Patrol Gunboat (PG) Photo Index
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    This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Tom Bateman
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