TUTUILA PR 4

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.

Shallow-draft River Gunboat
Keel Laid 17 October 1926 - Launched 14 June 1927


1. USS TUTUILA PG-44
Commissioned 2 March 1928


2. USS TUTUILA PR-4
Reclassified River Gunboat (PR) 15 June 1928
Stranded in Chungking by advancing Japanese forces October 1938
Decommissioned 18 January 1942


3. MEI YUAN (Republic of China Naval Service)
Leased to Nationalist China 19 March 1942
Permanently transferred to Nationalist China 17 February 1948

Struck from Navy Register 25 March 1942
Abandoned and scuttled at Shanghai to prevent capture by Communist Chinese forces

 

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 Tutuila PR-4 Covers Page 1    (1934-41)

 

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 3 (AC-BTT) "YANGTZE / PATROL"

1939-03-20

Sailor's Mail with a special marking from Lt. Kemp Tolley, later RAdm. Tolley.

 

Locy Type 3 (AC-BTT) "YANGTZE / PATROL"

1939-03-20

Close-up view of the special "Sailor's Mail" marking from Lt. Kemp Tolley, later RAdm. Tolley.

 

Locy Type 3 (AC-BTT) "CHUNGKING / CHINA"

1939-11-25

Note:

 

Locy Type 5s "HANKOW / CHINA"

1933-09-02

Note:

 

Locy Type SLKbs (32x3.5)

1933-09-02

Note:

 

Locy Type 5s "CHUNGKING / CHINA"

1934-09-07

Note:

 

Locy Type 5s "CHUNGKING / CHINA"

1934-09-07

Insert with Naval Mail Clerk's signature and rate.

 

Locy Type 5s "CHUNGKING / CHINA"

1934-10-27

Navy Day, cachet by C. Wright Richell

 

Locy Type 5s "ICHANG / CHINA"

1936-01-02

Note:

 

Locy Type F "CHASI / CHINA" USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. T-53

1935-11-11

Armistice Day. The Chinese characters in T-53 are a phonetic spelling of "TUTUILA."

 

Locy Type 9 "7 / +YRS / OLD"

1935-03-02

Cachet by Ludwig W. Staehle

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Locy Type 3 (AC-BTT) "ICHANG / CHINA"

1938-05-30

N/A

Outstanding cover showing the ports on the Yangtze River. Cover commemorates the 1st US Gunboat to have reached the 1st laid blockade. From the Lloyd Ferrell collection.

 

Other Information

NAMESAKE - An island in American Samoa.

The ships sponsor was Miss Beverly Pollard.

 

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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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