CHARA AE 31

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.

Andromeda Class Amphibious Cargo Ship Keel Laid (Date unknown) - Launched March 15 1944 USS CHARA AKA-58 Commissioned June 14 1944 Assigned to Naval Transportation Service 1946 Decommissioned October 1 1949 Transferred to Military Sea Transportation Service Recommissioned June 1950 - Decommissioned April 21 1959 Redesignated Ammunition Ship (AE) November 1 1965 USS CHARA AE-31 Recommissioned June 25 1966 - Decommissioned March 10 1972 Struck from Naval Register March 10 1972 Sold November 12 1972 to Zidell Explorations, Portland, OR 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. Chara Covers Page 1     (1944-45)

 

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

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Post Office Established June 15 1944 - Disestablished May 6 1946

 

Locy Type 9efu

1945-07-20 to 1945-08-02

As AKA-58
Mark from back of cover

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Post Office Reestablished June 25 1966 - Disestablished March 10 1972

 

Locy Type 2(n+) (USS)

1966-10-18

As AE-31

 

Other Information

CHARA earned four battle stars for World War II service
* Leyte operation
Leyte landings, October 20 and November 18 1944
* Luzon operation
Lingayen Gulf landings, January 9-10 1944
* Manila Bay-Bicol operations
Zambales - San Antonio, January 26 1945
* Okinawa Gunto operation
Assault and capture of Okinawa Gunto, April 1-6 1945

Earned seven battle stars for Korean War service
* North Korean Aggression
August 1-10 1950
* Communist China Aggression
November 14 1950 to January 24 1951
* First UN Counter Offensive
February 4 to March 2 1951
* UN Summer-Fall Offensive
August 23 to September 2 1951
September 6-26 1951
October 19 to November 7 1951
November 20-27 1951
* Second Korean Winter
November 28 to December 3 1951
December 16-29 1951
January 9-23 1952
February 10-20 1952
February 26 to March 1 1952
March 13-25 1952
April 1-7 and 19-28 1952
* Korean Defense Summer-Fall 1952
August 23 to September 5 1952
September 12-15 1952
September 26 to October 11 1952
October 27 to November 30 1952
* Third Korean Winter
December 1-23 1952
January 12-26 1953
February 6-12 and 22-27 1953
March 10-23 1953
April 5-13 1953

Earned eight campaign stars for Vietnam War service
* Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase II
November 22 to December 13 1966
December 25 1966 to January 18 1967
January 29 to February 15 1967
February 28 to March 6 1967
* Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase III
October 24 to November 11 1967
November 23 to December 15 1967
January 6-18 1968
* Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase IV
November 6-16 1968
November 26 to December 1 1968
January 1-13 and 17-23 1969
* Tet/69 Counteroffensive
February 23 to March 3 1969
March 17-23 1969
April 1-18 1969
* Vietnam Winter-Spring 1970
February 9-27 1970
March 8-25 1970
April 1 and 9-25 1970
* Sanctuary Counteroffensive
May 1-18 1970
May 2 to June 6 1970
June 29-30 1970
* Vietnamese Counteroffensive - Phase VII
July 1-12 1970
May 8-18 1971
May 26 to June 14 1971
June 23-30 1971
* Consolidation I
July 1-5 and 12-23 1971
July 27 to August 7 1971
August 15-26 1971
September 16 to October 14 1971
October 24 to November 6 1971

CHARA earned the Combat Action Ribbon, the Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (w/ 4 Battle stars), the World War II Victory Medal, the Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp), two (2) National Defense Service Medals, the Korean Service Medal (w/ 7 Battle stars), the Vietnam Service Medal (w/ 8 Campaign stars), the United Nations Service Medal, the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - A star in the constellation Canes Venatici.

 

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