ALUDRA AF 55

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.

Alstede Class Stores Ship Keel Laid August 1944 as Maritime Commission type (R2-S-BV1) hull Launched October 14 1944 as Refrigerated Cargo Ship MATCHLESS Delivered by War Shipping Administration to United States Lines March 23 1945 Returned to Maritime Commission August 1 1949 Acquired by U.S. Navy November 1950 and converted for Naval service USS ALUDRA AF-55 Commissioned June 19 1952 - Decommissioned September 2 1969 Returned to Maritime Administration (MARAD) Laid up in National Defense Reserve Fleet (Date unknown) Withdrawn from National Defense Reserve Fleet January 19 1977 Sold to Aleutian Island Seafoods November 1977 and renamed ALEUTIAN MONARCH Operated as a fish (crab) processing ship Caught fire and burned for five days. She was taken 50nm out to sea, bombed and scuttled on November 12th, 1981

 

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     (1952-69)

 

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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Post Office Established July 10 1952 - Disestablished June 30 1969

 

Locy Type FDPS 2r

1952-07-10

Although the cover says First Day of Commissioning the date of the cancel is actually the First Day of Postal Service.

 

Locy Type 2r

1952-08-11

Note:

 

Locy Type 2t(n+u)

1963-01-22

Note:

 

Locy Type 9efu

1952-08-11

Note:

 

Locy Type LDPS 2t(nu) Jun 30, 1969

1969-06-30

Last Day Postal Service

 

Other Information

ALUDRA earned 1 Battle Star for Korea
* Third Korean Winter Campaign
December 14-15 1952
February 10-11 and 18-19 1953
March 2-3, 14-15 and 28-30 1953
April 7-12 1953

Earned 5 Battle Stars for Vietnam service
* Vietnam Defense
October 3-17 1965
October 24 to November 1 1965
November 15-21 1965
* Vietnamese Counteroffensive
August 7-20 1966
August 27 to September 2 1966
September 7-17 1966
April 20 to May 2 1967
May 22-31 1967
* Vietnamese Counteroffensive-Phase III
June 1-11 1967
November 29 to December 13 1967
December 28 1967 to January 5 1968
January 14-20 1968
January 29 1968
* Tet Counteroffensive
February 1-4 1968
* Vietnamese Counteroffensive-Phase V
September 14-29 1968
October 10-21 1968

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons...
National Defense Service Medal - Korean Service Medal (1) - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (4) - Vietnam Service Medal (5) - United Nations Service Medal - Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal - Republic of Korea War Service Medal

NAMESAKE - Named for a star in the constellation Canis Major

 

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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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