BRIDGE AF 1

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.

Bridge Class Stores Ship
Keel Laid 12 June 1915 - Launched 18 May 1916


1. USS BRIDGE (Stores Ship)
Commissioned 2 June 1917


2. USS BRIDGE AF-1
Designated (AF) 17 July 1920
Decommissioned 27 June 1946

Sold 22 December 1947 at Manila, P.I., renamed SS Don Jose
Scrapped in Japan March 1953

 

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 Bridge AF-1 Covers Page 1    (1927-1943)

 

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 (BC-BTT) "SHANGHAI / CHINA"

1938-01-01

New Year's Day

 

Locy Type 3 (BC-BTT) "NAVY DAY / AT SEA"

1934-10-27

Navy Day, cacheted.

 

Locy Type 3 (D2, AC-BBT) "LABOR DAY / GREETINGS"

1936-09-07

Labor Day, cachet by Norman K. Mary and C. Wright Richell

 

Locy Type 3r "GONAIVES / HAITI"

1927-03-16

From the Richard D. Jones collection.

 

Locy Type 3r (A-BTT)

1941-09-18

Note:

 

Locy Type 3s "SUPPLY SHIP / "SCO FORCE"

1932-12-07

Note:

 

Locy Type 3z (BTT)

1943-06-07

Note:

 

Locy Type 6

1932-04-15

Add-on cachet by Bruce D. Liddell

 

Locy Type 9

1929-12-03

Note:

 

Locy Type 9v USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. B-55

1936-11-05 to 1936-11-06

Note:

 

Locy Type Straight Line

1937-06-10

Cachet by Ted Harrington

 

Other Information

USS BRIDGE earned the China Service Medal, the World War I Victory Medal w/ Transport clasp, the American Defense Medal w/ Fleet clasp, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ 1 Battle star, the World War II Victory Medal and the Navy Occupation Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - Horatio Bridge (1806-98) was born Augusta, Maine, and graduated from Bowdoin College in 1826. He was admitted to the bar in 1828 and practiced law until 1838 when he entered the Navy as a Purser. In 1854 he was named Chief of the Bureau of Provisions and Clothing. He was the first in the Navy to employ the idea of comprehensive fleet supply which was carried out with conspicuous success during the Civil War. He retired April 8 1868 and was advanced to Pay Director with the relative rank of Commodore on the Retired List March 3 1871. He died in 1898 at Athens, PA.

Two ships of the US Navy have been named in his honor - USS Bridge AF-1 and USS Bridge T-AOE-10.

The ships sponsor was Mrs. Granville Searcy Fleece, a grandniece of Commodore Bridge.

 

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