Orion

(Albatros AL-87)

Service: Bought by US Navy from owner Julius Forstmann on 13 Nov 1940. Converted to gunboat at Sullivan Drydock and Repair, Brooklyn, with armament of 4-3" guns. Renamed USS Vixen and designated PG-53. Commissioned 25 Feb 1941. After shakedown cruise to Caribbean, she became flagship for Commander, Submarines, Atlantic Fleet. On 30 Dec 1941 she became the flagship of Adm Ernest J. King, Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, at the Washington Navy Yard. Served until relieved in Jun 1942. After refit, she became flagship of Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet: first Adm Roy E. Ingersoll, on 21 Jul 1942, and then Adm Jonas H. Ingram on 15 Nov 1944. Vixen was decommissioned on 24 May 1946 and sold in Jan 1947. Currently in service as M/V Regina Maris for Memnon Tours, Cairo, Egypt.