KANAWHA AO 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.

Kanawha Class Fleet Oiler
Keel Laid 8 December 1913 - Launched 11 July 1914


1. USS KANAWHA
   Commissioned 5 June 1915
   
   
2. USS KANAWHA AO 1
   Designated (AO) 17 July 1920 - Decommissioned 18 December 1929
   Recommissioned 5 June 1934
   SUNK by Japanese aircraft 8 April 1943 off Tulagi Harbor, British Solomon Islands
   19 of her crew were lost with the ship and remain on duty
   
   Struck from Naval Register 19 May 1943

 

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 Kanawha AO-1 Covers Page 1    (1927-1942)

 

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 5 June 1915 to 18 December 1929

 

Locy Type 3s

1928-06-15

Addressed to Dr. Locy.

 

Locy Type 9 (C)

1927-10-04

Registered rate, Official Business cut-square

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2nd Commissioning 5 June 1934 to 8 April 1943

 

Locy Type FDPS 3 (A-BTT)

1934-08-06

First Day of Postal Service, 2nd Commissioning, Cachet by Whipple Y. Chester and Deane C. (DC) Bartley

 

Locy Type 3 (A-BTT) "NAVY OILER / NO. 1"

1935-08-02

Note:

 

Locy Type 3 (BC-TTB) "SAN DIEGO/ CALIFORNIA"

1938-12-25

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

Locy Type 3 (BC-TTB) "ENROUTE TO / PANAMA C.Z."

1939-01-01

Note:

 

Locy Type 3 (A-BBT)

1941-09-06

Note:

 

Locy Type 3z (BBT)

1942-12-20

Note:

 

Locy Type Parcel Post Oval (PPO) USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. K-12

c 1935

Philatelic. From the Steve Shay collection.

 

Other Information

USS KANAWHA earned the Combat Action Ribbon, the World War I Victory Medal (with Transport clasp), the American Defense Service Medal (with Fleet clasp), the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (w/ 1 Battle star) and the World War II Victory Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - A river in southwest West Virginia formed by the confluence of the New and Gauley Rivers at Gauley Bridge, WV

 

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