ALTAMAHA CVE 18

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.

Bogue Class Escort Carrier
Keel Laid December 19 1941 as Maritime Commission type C3-S-A1 merchant
Acquired by U.S. Navy May 1 1942
Launched May 25 1942
Converted to Aircraft Carrier and classified Aircraft Escort Vessel (AVG)
Reclassified Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier (ACV) August 20 1942


1. USS ALTAMAHA ACV-18
   Commissioned September 15 1942
   
   
2. USS ALTAMAHA CVE-18
   Reclassified Escort Carrier (CVE) July 15 1943
   Decommissioned September 27 1946
   
   
3. USS ALTAMAHA CVHE-18
   Reclassified Escort Helicopter Aircraft Carrier (CVHE) June 12 1955, While in reserve
   
   Struck from Naval Register March 1 1959
   Sold April 25 1961 for scrap

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 name of the ship (for example, Bushnell AG-32 / Sumner AGS-5 are different names for the same ship so there should be one set of pages for Bushnell and one set for Sumner). 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. Altamaha Covers Page 1     (1943-45)

 

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	Date From to Date To	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

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Post Office Established October 28 1942 - Disestablished May 1 1946

 

Locy Type 2z

1943-11-01

As CVE-18

 

Locy Type F USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. A-24

1946-01-29

As CVE-18

 

Locy Type F USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. A-24

1946-04-04

As CVE-18

 

Other Information

ALTAMAHA earned 1 Battle Star (WWII)
* Hunter/Killer Group TG 11.1
Marshall Islands, April 15 1944

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons...
American Campaign Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (1 star) - World War II Victory Medal - Philippine Liberation Medal

NAMESAKE - Named for a river and a sound in the state of Georgia. Altamaha was also the name of a town established in 1540 upon a site located in the present-day state of Georgia. Altamaha was mentioned in the journals of Hernando De Soto's expedition

 

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