HOUSTON CA 30

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.

Northampton Class Light Cruiser
Keel Laid 1 May 1928 - Launched 7 September 1929


1. USS HOUSTON CL 30
   Commissioned 17 June 1930
   
   
2. USS HOUSTON CA 30
   Reclassified Heavy Cruiser (CA) 1 July 1931
   SUNK by Japanese gunfire and torpedoes during the Battle of Sunda Strait 1 March 1942

 

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 Houston CL/CA-30 Covers Page 1    (1932-1940)

 

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 3 (BC-BTT) "PORTLAND / OREGON"

1934-08-03

CA-30

 

Locy Type 3b (BC-XTX) "FLEET / REVIEW"

1935-10-02

CA-30. Presidential Cruise.

 

Locy Type 3 (AC-TTT) "MOTHER'S / DAY"

1936-05-10

CA-30

 

Locy Type 3 (AC-BTB) "COLUMBUS / DAY"

1936-10-12

CA-30. Cachet by the Hollywood Cover Club

 

Locy Type 3 (AC-TBT)

1937-11-11

CA-30

 

Locy Type 5hks (C) "HONOLULU / T.H."

1934-07-28

CA-30. Add-on cachet by Bruce D. Liddell

 

Locy Type 5ahks "SHANGHAI / CHINA"

1932-02-22

CA-30. From the Bob Reisinger collection.

 

Locy Type 5ahks (C) "SHANGHAI / CHINA"

1932-03-23

CA-30. From the Bob Reisinger collection.

 

Locy Type 5bhks (C) "SHANGHAI / CHINA"

1932-06-01

CA-30

 

Locy Type 7 (on back of cover)

1936-10-12

CA-30. Cachet by the Hollywood Cover Club

 

Locy Type 9v USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. H-81

1935-11-06

CA-30. Mark from back of cover

 

Locy Type F USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. H-81c

c1933

CA-30

 

Locy Type SLPbs (53x7)

c1931-09-17

CA-30

 

Other Information

USS HOUSTON earned the Combat Action Ribbon, the Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon, the Yangtze Service Medal, the China Service Medal, the American Defense Service Medal w/Fleet Clasp, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ 2 Battle stars, the World War II Victory Medal, the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon and the Philippine Defense Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - Named for the city of Houston, Texas.

Four ships of the US Navy have borne the name HOUSTON - USS Houston AK-1, USS Houston CA 30, USS Houston CL-81 and USS Houston SSN-713.

The ships sponsor was Miss Elizabeth Holcombe, daughter of the mayor of Houston, Texas.

 

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