DURHAM LKA 114

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.

Charleston Class Amphibious Cargo Ship Keel Laid 10 July 1967 as "AKA-114" Launched 29 March 1968 Redesignated "LKA-114" 1 January 1969 USS DURHAM LKA-114 Commissioned 24 May 1969 - Decommissioned 25 February 1994 Berthed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (NISMF) 30 March 2000 Sunk during live fire exercise, "RIMPAC 2020", 30 August 2020

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 Durham LKA-114 Covers Page 1     (1969-1994)

 

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 FDC 2(n+) (USS)

1969-05-24

Commissioning, cachet by the USS Cleveland Chapter No. 25, USCS

 

Locy Type FDC 9ef(n+u)

1969-05-24

First Day in Commission

 

Locy Type 2(n+) (USS)

1975-05-01

Ship's Cachet. Note: Typewritten annotation "VUNG TAU, RVN" on cover. USS Durham was one of the many ships involved in "Operation Frequent Wind" April 29-30, 1975 that involved the evacuation of Saigon.

 

Locy Type 2-1n+ (USS,USN)

1989-04-11

Note:

 

Locy Type LDC SLPn+

1994-02-25

Last Day in Commission

 

Other Information

USS DURHAM earned the Combat Action Ribbon, the Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation Ribbon (2 awards), the Navy Battle "E" Ribbon (2 awards), the National Defense Service Medal (2 awards), the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (3 awards), the Vietnam Service Medal w/ 3 campaign stars, the Southwest Asia Service Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal (2 awards) and the Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait) during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - The city of Durham, North Carolina.

The ship's sponsor was Mrs. Alton A. Lennon, wife of Rep. Lennon of North Carolina.

 

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