SUWANNEE CVHE 27

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.

Sangamon Class Escort Carrier
Keel Laid 3 June 1938 as civilian tanker "SS MARKAY"
Launched 4 March 1939 - Acquired by US Navy 26 June 1941
Designated and Renamed 26 June 1941


1. USS SUWANNEE AO-33
Commissioned 16 July 1941


2. USS SUWANNEE AVG-27
Redesignated Aircraft Escort Vessel (AVG) 14 February 1942
Decommissioned 21 February 1942


3. USS SUWANNEE ACV-27
Reclassified Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier (ACV) 20 August 1942
Recommissioned 24 September 1942


4. USS SUWANNEE CVE-27
Reclassified Escort Carrier (CVE) 15 July 1943
Placed in reserve status with the 16th Fleet at Boston 28 October 1946
Decommissioned 8 January 1947


5. USS SUWANNEE CVHE-27
   Reclassified Escort Helicopter Aircraft Carrier(CVHE) 12 June 1955, while in reserve
   
   Struck from Naval Register 1 March 1959
   Sold on 30 November 1959 for conversion to merchant service, but the project was subsequently canceled
   Hulk resold May 1961
   Scrapped in Bilbao, Spain, starting in June 1962.

 

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).

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1. USS Suwannee CVE-27 Covers Page 1     (1946)

 

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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1st Commissioning 16 July 1941 to 21 February 1942

 

Locy Type SL2b (38x3)

1941-10-30

AO-33. Straight-line marking, cachet by Mae Weigand. Ship's name misspelled "SUWANEE" in the marking and cachet.

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2nd Commissioning 24 September 1942 to 8 January 1947

 

Locy Type 2# (used after POD) (Br. #16114)

1946-07-30

CVE-27. Post Office discontinued 20 June 1946.

 

Locy Type 3z

1943-03-29

ACV-27. Censored sailors mail. From the Bob Govern collection.

 

Locy Type 9efsu

1945-08-12

CVE-27. Registered, Official mail. From the Richard F. Hoffner collection.

 

Locy Type 9# (Br. #16114)

1946-04-24

CVE-27

 

Other Information

USS SUWANNEE earned the Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon, the American Defense Service Medal (w/ "A" device), the American Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ 13 Battle stars, the World War II Victory Medal, the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon and two (2) Philippine Liberation Medals during her Naval Career.

NAMESAKE - Named for a river which rises in Ware County, southeastern Georgia and flows southwest across Florida to empty into the Gulf of Mexico at Suwannee Sound. An earlier US warship had been named Suwanee, an alternate spelling.

 

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