KEOKUK AKN 4

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.

Keokuk Class Minelayer
Keel Laid 1914 as "SS HENRY M. FLAGLER"
Renamed "COLUMBIA HEIGHTS" 1940
Acquired by US Navy 28 July 1941 for conversion to "Coastal Minelayer CMc-6"
Reclassified Net Layer (AN) and renamed 15 August 1941


1. USS KEOKUK AN-5
Commissioned 28 February 1942


2. USS KEOKUK CM-8
Reclassified Minelayer (CM) 18 May 1942


3. USS KEOKUK AKN-4
Reclassified Net Cargo Ship (AKN) November 1943
Decommissioned 5 December 1945

Transferred to WSA 1 July 1946 for disposal
Sold 7 March 1947 to the West India Fruit & Steam Ship Co. renamed "Henry M. Flagler"
Acquired by the Sea Highway Co. in 1961 and renamed "Flagler Odeca"
Acquired by the Odeca Terminal Co. in 1964 and renamed "Henry M. Flagler"
Renamed "Freight Transporter" later that year
Foundered in a gale under tow 16 December 1971 off the Northeast coast of the Azores en route to a scrap yard in Spain.

 

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 Keokuk AKN-4 Covers Page 1    (1943)

 

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

 

Locy Type FDPS 3z (BBT)

1942-05-27

CM-8. First Day of Postal Service, cachet by Tazewell G. Nicholson. From the Bob Govern collection.

 

Locy Type FDPS 9efu

1942-05-27

CM-8. First Day of Postal Service, cachet by Tazewell G. Nicholson.

 

Locy Type 3z

1943-04-26

USCS Catalog of United States Naval Postmarks lists Type 3z as (BBT). This appears as (TTT) which would be from another ship or station

 

Other Information

NAMESAKE - A town in Iowa named for a leader of the Sauk Indians born in Illinois about 1780.

The ships sponsor was Miss Florence Beckwith, daughter of Mr. Joseph P. Beckwith, VP of the Florida East Coast Railway.

Three ships of the US Navy have borne the name KEOKUK - USS Keokuk (1862 Ironclad), USS Keokuk CMC-6 and USS Keokuk YTB-771

 

---

 

If you have images or information to add to this page, then either contact the Curator or edit this page yourself and add it. See Editing Ship Pages for detailed information on editing this page.

 

---

Copyright 2024 Naval Cover Museum