CAIMAN SS 323

Ship Name and Designation History

This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.

Balao Class Submarine Ordered as BLANQUILLO Name changed 24 September 1942 Keel Laid 24 June 1943 - Launched 30 March 1944 USS CAIMAN SS-323 Commissioned 17 July 1944 - Decommissioned 30 May 1971 TGC DUMLUPINAR S-339 (Turkish Naval Service) Sold to the Republic of Turkey and commissioned 30 May 1971 Decommissioned 6 February 1983 CERYAN BOTU Y-1247 (Turkish Naval Service) Served as a charging boat at Gölcük Navy Yard February 1983 Scrapped 15 September 1986

Naval Covers

This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each incarnation of the ship (ie, for each entry in the "Ship Name and Designation History" section). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).

Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.

1. USS Caiman SS-323 Covers Page 1     (1943-1963)

 

Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each incarnation of the ship (ie, for each entry in the "Ship Name and Designation History" section). Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.

A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.
 
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the existing example.

 

Postmark Type --- Killer Bar Text	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

 

Locy Type 3z (BTT) "USS CAIMAN / KEEL LAYING"

1943-06-24

Cachet by William F. Spader

 

Locy Type 3z (BTT) "USS CAIMAN / LAUNCHING"

1944-03-30

Cachet by M. J. Herald, sponsored by the Argonauts Crew No. 24, ANCS

 

Locy Type SLb

1947-09-18

Posted from U.S. Navy 10088 Br.

 

Other Information

USS CAIMAN earned the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ 2 Battle Stars and the World War II Victory Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - Any of various tropical American crocodilians resembling and closely related to the alligator.

The ships sponsor was Mrs. R. C. Bonjour.

 

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If you have images or information to add to this page, then either contact the Curator or edit this page yourself and add it. See Editing Ship Pages for detailed information on editing this page.

 

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