COL WILLIAM J O'BRIEN T-AK 246

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.

Alamosa Class Cargo Ship Keel Laid 17 January 1945 as MV Maiden's Eye Launched 13 February 1945 Delivered to the 10 April 1945 USAT COL WILLIAM J. O'BRIEN Turned over to the US Army and commissioned 11 July 1946 Decommissioned by the US Army 1 March 1950 USNS COL WILLIAM J. O'BRIEN T-AK-246 Acquired by the US Navy & Placed in service 1 March 1950 Placed out of service in the 1960s Struck from the Naval Register 1 September 1973 Title transferred to MARAD 9 November 1973 Sold for scrapping 9 November 1973

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 name of the ship (for example, Bushnell AG-32 / Sumner AGS-5 are different names for the same ship so there should be one set of pages for Bushnell and one set for Sumner). 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. USNS Col. William J. O'Brien T-AK-246 Covers Page 1     (DATE RANGE)

 

Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each name and/or commissioning period. 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

 

Army-Air Force Postal Service 4-bar Postmark

1957-03-15

The ship had no postal facilities.

 

Other Information

COL. WILLIAM J. O'BRIEN T-AK-246 earned the National Defense Service Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - Colonel William Joseph O'Brien, USA (1899 – July 7, 1944)
        O'Brien joined the Army from his birth city of Troy, New York, and by June 20, 1944 was serving as a Lieutenant Colonel in the 1st Battalion, 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division. On that day, on Saipan in the Marianas Islands, he braved enemy fire to reach several American tanks which were unknowingly firing on their own troops. The next week, on June 28, he orchestrated and personally led an attack on a Japanese held ridge. When his battalion came under attack from a much larger enemy force on July 7, he refused to leave the front lines even after being wounded, and continued to lead his men until being overrun and killed. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on May 9, 1945, for his actions throughout the battle for Saipan.

 

---

 

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