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USS Hancock (AP-3)

Please see below for item level images and donated collections containing photographs of USS Hancock (AP-3)

The third Hancock (Troop Transport) was built in 1879 by J. Elder & Co., Glasgow, Scotland. Formerly Arizona, she was purchased by the War Department during the Spanish-American War (1898) and transferred to the Navy Department on 8 November 1902. She was commissioned on 20 November 1902, Lt. Cmdr. Frederick W. Coffin in command.

On 17 July 1920, USS Hancock was designated AP-3 as part of a Navy-wide administrative re-organization. She returned to New York with the ships on 9 August. Returning to the Philadelphia Navy Yard afterward, she resumed transport duties on 5 October 1920, departing Philadelphia for Hampton Roads (6-9 October) and Charleston (13-17 October), before steaming to Guantanamo Bay, and arriving on 17 October. 

Having spent Christmas in port, USS Hancock (AP-3) got underway again on 28 December, and transited via Charleston (30-31 December), made her way to Guantanamo, reaching on 4 January. Departing the next day, she steamed to Port-au-Prince (6-10 January), en route to Santo Domingo (12-15 January), San Juan (16 January), St. Thomas (16-17 January), Puerta Plata (19-20 January), Cap-Haitien (20-22 January), before steaming back to the U.S., and standing in to Hampton Roads, and anchoring in the harbor, on the 27th.

USS Hancock (AP-3) departed Hampton Roads that same day, 27 January 1921, and steamed to the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Arriving the next day, she underwent repairs until 5 March, when she undocked and headed south to return to Hampton Roads, arriving on 6 March. Departing on the 15th, she set a course for the Canal Zone (C.Z.), and future service in the Pacific. The ship arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaiian Territory, on 14 May, then briefly shifted to Honolulu on the 18th, before returning that same day to Pearl Harbor. USS Hancock (AP-3) served as a receiving ship there into 1925.

USS Hancock (AP-3) was towed from Pearl Harbor on 10 July 1925, touching at San Francisco on 24 July, before shifting to the Mare Island Navy Yard, on 25 July. Placed out of commission on 1 September 1925; USS Hancock (AP-3) was stricken from the Navy list on 10 September, and sold on 21 May 1926.

For a complete history of USS Hancock (AP-3) please see its DANFS page.