H H HESS AGS 38

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.

H. H. Hess Class Hydrographic Survey Ship Keel Laid 10 August 1963 Launched 30 May 1964 as CANADA MAIL Delivered to Maritime Commission March 12 1965 and placed in service by American Mail Lines Laid up in National Defense Reserve Fleet (Date unknown) Acquired by U.S. Navy 3 March 1977 Assigned to Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) (Date unknown) USNS H. H. HESS T-AGS-38 Placed In Service 1978 - Out of Service 16 January 1992 Struck from Naval Register 5 February 1992 Laid up 1 June 1993 in National Defense Reserve Fleet Fate unknown

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. Covers Page 1     (DATE RANGE)

 

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

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Locy Type 7

1978-11-284

As USNS H. H. HESS T-AGS-38. The ship had no postal facilities.

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OCEANOGRAPHIC UNIT 3

Operated onboard USNS H. H. HESS from March 1 1978 to September 20 1991

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Locy Type 2-1 "OCEANO UNIT 3"

1980-06-26

Note:

 

Locy Type F ("OCEANOGRAPHIC UNIT THREE") USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. CD-6

1980-08-28

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Locy Type F ("OCEANOGRAPHIC UNIT THREE") USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. CD-6a

1979-11-01

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Other Information

USNS H. H. HESS earned the Navy Battle "E" Ribbon (4 awards) and the National Defense Service Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - Rear Admiral Dr. Harry Hammond Hess, USN (May 24 1906 – August 25 1969).
Hess was a geologist and United States Navy officer. Considered one of the "founding fathers" of the unifying theory of plate tectonics. He is best known for his theories on sea floor spreading, specifically work on relationships between island arcs, seafloor gravity anomalies, and serpentinized peridotite, suggesting that the convection of the Earth's mantle was the driving force behind this process. This work provided a conceptual base for the development of the theory of plate tectonics.

 

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