RESCUE AH 18

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.

Keel Laid (Date unknown) as Passenger Ship Launched January 9 1932 as SAINT JOHN Delivered to Eastern Steamship Lines April 22 1932 Acquired by U.S. Navy April 24 1941 Converted to Submarine Tender (AS) USS ANTAEUS AS-21 Commissioned May 17 1941 USS ANTAEUS AG-67 Redesignated Miscellaneous Auxiliary (AG) September 15 1943 USS RESCUE AH-18 Converted to Hospital Ship (AH) and renamed January 18 1945 Decommissioned April 29 1946 Struck from Naval Register August 15 1946 Transferred to Maritime Commission for disposal June 29 1946 Scrapped 1959

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. ANTAEUS AS-21 Covers Page 1     (1941-42)
2. ANTAEUS AG-67 Covers Page 1     (1943)
3. RESCUE Covers Page 1     (1945-46)

 

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 Close-Up Image	Thumbnail Link To Full Cover Image

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USS ANTAEUS

Post Office Established August 1 1941 - Disestablished April 1 1946

 

Locy Type FDPS 3 Jul 24, 1941 "FIRST DAY / CANCELATION" (incorrect spelling)

1941-07-24

As ANTAEUS AS-21
Cachet by Tazewell G. Nicholson

 

Locy Type 2z

1943-11-06

As ANTAEUS AG-67

 

Locy Type 3z (BBT)

1941-09-25

As ANTAEUS AS-21
Add-on cachet by Bruce D. Liddell

 

Locy Type 9v

1941-08-08

As ANTAEUS AS-21
Registered, Official Mail - MAILGRAM. Cover from USS S-44 SS-155.

USS RESCUE

 

Locy Type 2z

1945-05-28

As RESCUE AH-18
Censored wartime (WWII) use

 

Locy Type 9# (Br. #15522)

1945-07-15

As RESCUE AH-18
Marking from back of cover

 

Locy Type F USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. R-11

1946-01-01

The ship's return address handstamp designates the ship as APH-18. A New Year's Day cover.

 

Locy Type LDPS F Mar 28, 1946

1946-03-28

As RESCUE AH-18
Last Day Postal Service

 

Other Information

ANTAEUS

NAMESAKE - The son of Neptune, the god of the sea in Roman mythology

RESCUE

RESCUE earned two battle stars for her World War II service
* Okinawa Gunto operation
Assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto, June 13-19 1945
* 3d Fleet operations against Japan, July 10 to August 13 1945

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons...
Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive - Okinawa) - American Defense Service Medal (with Fleet clasp) - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (2) - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp)

NAMESAKE - To save someone from danger or peril

 

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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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