USS Orizaba was a transport ship for the U.S. Navy in World War I and World War II, first commissioned on 27 May 1918. Orizaba made 15 transatlantic voyages for the Navy carrying troops to and from Europe in World War I with the second-shortest average in-port turnaround time of all Navy transports. The ship was turned over to the War Department in 1919 for use as Army transport USAT Orizaba. After the war, the troopship reverted to the Ward Line, her previous owners. In World War II the ship was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration and again assigned to the War Department, but was soon transferred to the U.S. Navy as USS Orizaba (AP-24). The ship made several transatlantic runs, was damaged in an air attack in the Allied invasion of Sicily, made trips to South America, and served in the Pacific Theatre. In June 1945 the ship was transferred under Lend-Lease to the Brazilian Navy, where she served as Duque de Caxias (U-11). Permanently transferred to Brazil in 1953, the ship was decommissioned in 1959 and scrapped in 1963.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Orizaba

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1153:

Malcolm IV was crowned King of Scotland at the age of twelve. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_IV_of_Scotland

1813:

War of 1812: The troops of the U.S. Army and vessels of the U.S. Navy cooperated in a successful amphibious assault to capture Fort George in Upper Canada. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_George

1874:

The first group of nomadic pastoralists known as Trekboer set out on the Dorsland Trek, departing South Africa for Angola. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorsland_Trek

1940:

World War II: Ninety-seven soldiers of the Royal Norfolk Regiment were executed by German troops after surrendering. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Paradis_massacre

1958:

The F-4 Phantom II, the principal air superiority jet fighter for both the U.S. Navy and Air Force, made its first flight. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_F-4_Phantom_II

2001:

Members of the Islamist separatist group Abu Sayyaf kidnapped 20 tourists in Palawan, Philippines, triggering a hostage crisis that lasted over a year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dos_Palmas_kidnappings

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

faxlore:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/faxlore

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Everyone is trying to reach for their own stars, and all of those stars aren’t light-years away. They are as close as our job, our family, our children, our next-door neighbors and our good friends.   --Alan Bean https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alan_Bean