GENERAL R M BLATCHFORD T-AP 153

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.

General G. O. Squier Class Transport Keel Laid as Maritime Commission type (C4-S-A1) hull Launched August 27 1944 Acquired by U.S. Navy January 26 1945 USS GENERAL R. M. BLATCHFORD AP-153 Commissioned January 26 1945 - Decommissioned June 12 1946 Struck from Naval Register July 3 1946 Transferred to U.S. Army Transportation Service USAT GENERAL R. M. BLATCHFORD Commissioned June 12 1946 - Decommissioned 1950 Reacquired by U.S. Navy and reinstated on Naval Register March 1 1950 USNS GENERAL R. M. BLATCHFORD T-AP-153 Placed In Service March 1 1950 - Out of Service January 1967 Struck from Naval Register October 9 1968 Transferred to Maritime Administration September 1968 Sold to Waterman Carriers Inc., New York January 1969 Rebuilt as Container Ship and renamed STONEWALL JACKSON in 1970 Renamed ALEX STEPHENS in 1973 Acquired by U.S. Department of Commerce 1979 Sold April 13 1980 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. Covers Page 1     (1946)

 

Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each name and/or commissioning period. 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

 

Locy Type 2z

1946-05-30

Cachet by Louis T. Pentel

 

Locy Type 9# (Br. #15467)

1946-05-29

This postmark is on the back of the May 30th cover.

 

Return Address

1946-05-30

Cachet by Louis T. Pentel

 

Other Information

GENERAL R. M. BLATCHFORD received the following awards during her Naval career - American Campaign Medal - Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp)- National Defense Service Medal - Korean Service Medal (w/ 2 battle stars) - Vietnam Service Medal (w/ 1 battle star)- United Nations Service Medal - Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal - Republic of Korea War Service Medal.

NAMESAKE - Richard M. Blatchford, born 17 August 1859 at Fort Hamilton,. N.Y., served on the American frontier in Dakota Territory, Kansas, and Arizona. Following two tours of duty in Puerto Rico he served both in the field and in garrison in the Philippines from 1901-04. After frontier and border patrol assignments, General Blatchford sailed for France in July 1917 and during World War I was commanding general of the Line of Communications, A.E.F. Following his return to the United States he served in Panama, Ohio, California, and Washington, retiring from active service 1 December 1922. He died 31 August 1934 at San Francisco, Calif. {DANFS}

 

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