ARCTURUS AF 52

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.

Alstede Class Stores Ship Keel Laid December 8 1941 as Maritime Commission type (R2-S-BV1) hull Launched June 12 1943 as GOLDEN EAGLE Delivered to War Shipping Administration (WSA) April 23 1943 Operated under contract by United Fruit Co. 1944-46 Operated under contract by Sword Line and United States Line 1947-48 Acquired by U.S. Army Transportation Corps 1948 USAT GOLDEN EAGLE Commissioned 1948 - Decommissioned 1950 Acquired by U.S. Navy March 1 1950 Assigned to Military Sea Transportation Service USNS GOLDEN EAGLE T-AF-52 Placed In Service March 1 1950 - Out of Service (Date unknown) Renamed October 13 1961 USS ARCTURUS AF-52 Commissioned November 18 1961 - Decommissioned May 16 1973 Struck from Naval Register December 9 1985 Sunk as target July 24 1997

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. Arcturus Covers Page 1     (1966-72)

 

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

 

Locy Type FDC F USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. A-36

1961-11-18

First Day in Commission, ship's stationary.

 

Locy Type 2(n) (USS)

1970-08-04

Welcoming TCG ISKENDERUN (ex USS Boyd DD-544) to Norfolk, cachet by Tazewell G. Nicholson

 

Locy Type 2(n) (USS)

1970-10-02

Welcoming USS Salish ATA-187 to Norfolk, cachet by Tazewell G. Nicholson

 

Locy Type PPB USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. A-36a

1966-10-28

Note:

 

Locy Type LDC 2(n)

1972-10-31

Last Day Postal Service
(Listed as LDC in USCS Catalog)

 

Locy Type LDPS 9ef(nu)

1972-10-31

Last Day Postal Service

 

Other Information

ARCTURUS received the National Defense Service Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - The principal star of the northern constellation Bootes with a magnitude of .2 and located 36 light years distant from the Earth.

 

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