ALCHIBA AKA 6

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.

Arcturus Class Cargo Ship
Keel Laid August 15 1938 as Maritime Commission type (C2) hull


1. MORMACDOVE (Commercial Service)
Operated by The Moore-McCormack Lines
Acquired by U.S. Navy June 2 1941


2. USS ALCHIBA AK-23
Commissioned June 15 1941


3. USS ALCHIBA AKA-6
Redesignated Attack Cargo Ship (AKA) February 1 1943
Decommissioned January 14 1946

Struck from Naval Register February 25 1946
Transferred to Maritime Commission July 19 1946
Sold 1948 by Maritime Commission and refitted for merchant service


4. TJIPANAS (Commercial Service)
Entered service 1948


5. TONG JIT (Commercial Service)
Sold 1967

Sold 1973 and scrapped

 

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. Covers Page 1     (1941-46)

 

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 September 8 1941 - Disestablished December 28 1945

 

Locy Type FDPS 3 Sep 8, 1941 "FIRST DAY / CANCELLATION"

1941-09-08

As AK-23
First Day of Postal Service
Al Cohen

 

Locy Type FDPS 9v

1941-09-08

As AK-23
First Day Postal Service

 

Locy Type 2z

1945-12-20

As AKA-6

 

Locy Type 3 (A-OTO)

1941-10-03

As AK-23
Add-on cachet by Bruce D. Liddell

 

Locy Type 3z (BBT)

1941-12-12

As AK-23
Censored wartime (WWII) use

 

Locy Type 3z (BBT) "FREE / POSTAGE"

1943-02-11

As AKA-6
Censored wartime (WWII) use

 

Locy Type 9v

1941-10-11

As AK-23
Favor strike on block of four stamps

 

Locy Type 9efw

1941-10-11

As AK-23
Favor strike on block of four stamps

 

Locy Type 9x

1941-10-11

As AK-23
Favor strike on block of four stamps

 

Locy Type LDC 3 Jan 14, 1946

1946-01-14

As AKA-6
Last Day in Commission

 

Other Information

ALCHIBA earned the Presidential Unit Citation for her service at Guadalcanal and 3 Battle Stars for WWII service
* Guadalcanal-Tulagi landings
August 7-9 1942
* Capture and defense of Guadalcanal
Occupation and defense of Cape Torokina, November 1-13 1943
* Treasury-Bougainville operation
November 1943

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons...
Combat Action Ribbon - Presidential Unit Citation - American Defense Service Medal (with Fleet clasp) - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (3) - World War II Victory Medal

Individual Awards...
Purple Heart (3-KIA, 6-WIA, December 7 1943)

NAMESAKE - Named for a star, frequently spelled Al Chiba, in the constellation Carvi

 

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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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