ACHERNAR AKA 53

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.

Andromeda Class Attack Cargo Ship
Keel Laid September 6 1943 - Launched December 3 1943


1. USS ACHERNAR AKA-53
   Commissioned January 31 1944
   Assigned to Naval Transportation Service (NTS) 1946
   Transferred to Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) October 1 1949
   Decommissioned May 18 1956
   Recommissioned September 1 1961 - Decommissioned July 1 1963
   
   Struck from Naval Register February 2 1965
   
   
2. CASTILLA TA-21 (Spanish Naval Service)
   Sold to Spain February 2 1965 and renamed
   Decommissioned by Spain to reserves 1980
   
   Struck from the Spanish Navy List January 1 1982
   Scrapped 1987

 

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     (1950-55)

 

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	Date From to Date To	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

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1st Post Office Period January 31 1944 to December 9 1946

 

Locy Type P USCS Catalog Illustration A-5a

1946-07-25

Cachet by Winfred M. Grandy

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FLEET POST OFFICE NAVY 128 PEARL HARBOR BR.

1950-03-20

Note:

 

Cachet

1950

In 1950 with no post office aboard, the yeoman used a cachet as if it were a cancel
USCS Postmark Catalog

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2nd Post Office Period March 20 1951 to December 19 1955

 

Locy Type FDPS 2

1951-04-02

First Day Postal Service

 

Locy Type 2

1955-04-11

Note:

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2nd Commissioning September 1 1961 to July 1 1963

 

Locy Type 2(n)

1961-12-09

Note:

 

Other Information

ACHERNAR earned 3 Battle Stars for WWII and 3 Battle Stars for Korea

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons...
Combat Action Ribbon - American Campaign Medal - Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal (2) - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (1) - World War II Victory Medal - National Defense Service Medal - Korea Service Medal (3) - United Nations Service Medal - Republic of Korea War Memorial Medal

Personnel Awards...
Purple Hearts 5 KIA, 41WIA, 2 APR 1945

NAMESAKE - Named for the brightest star in the southern constellation Eridanus with a magnitude of .6. It is at least 200 times more luminous than the sun and one of the 10 brightest stars in the sky. It is about 118 light-years from the Earth

 

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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.

 

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