ATULE AGSS 403

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.

Balao Class Submarine Keel Laid November 25 1943 - Launched March 6 1944 USS ATULE SS-403 Commissioned June 21 1944 - Decommissioned September 8 1947 Converted to Guppy 1-A type submarine 1950 Recommissioned March 8 1951 USS ATULE AGSS-403 Reclassified Auxiliary Submarine (AGSS) October 1 1969 Decommissioned April 6 1970 Struck from Naval Register August 15 1973 PACOCHA S-48 (Peruvian Naval Service) Sold to Peru July 1974 and renamed Sunk (collision) August 26 1988 with Japanese fishing boat

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. USS Atule AGSS-403 Covers Page 1     (1945)

 

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	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

 

USPO Machine Cancel Kittery ME

1944-03-06

N/A

Launching, cachet by Helen Contraros

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1st Commissioning June 21 1944 to September 8 1947

 

Locy Type SLKo (unlisted)

c1945

As SS-403

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2nd Commissioning March 8 1951 to April 6 1970

 

Locy Type 2tnu (A) USS Rockbridge APA-228

1964-02-29

N/A

Welcome to Norfolk, cachet by Tazewell G. Nicholson. From the Neal J. Mills collection.

 

USPO Machine Postmark Philadelphia, PA

1969-09-08

Note:

 

Other Information

ATULE earned 4 battle stars for her World War II service

Credited with sinking...
The 16975-ton Japanese Troop Transport ASAMA MARU, November 1 1944 Luzon Strait
The 648-ton Japanese Minesweeper W-38, November 21 1944 off Formosa
The 7266-ton Japanese Merchant Cargo Ship MANJU MARU, November 25 1944 off Luzon
The 935-ton Japanese Patrol Boat #38 (ex-YOMOGI), November 25 1944 off Luzon
The 6888-ton Japanese Merchant Cargo Ship TAIMAN MARU, January 24 1945 Yellow Sea
The 740-ton Japanese Corvette KAIBOKAN 6, August 13 1945 off Hokkaido
The captured German Submarine U-977, November 13 1946 during torpedo trials off Massachusetts

NAMESAKE - A bluish-olive colored fish growing to two feet in length, found in Atlantic waters from Cape Cod to Brazil, and in Pacific waters from Oregon to Japan and into the South Pacific.

 

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