ALTAIR T-AKR 291

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.

Algol Class (Roll-on/Roll-off Vehicle) Fast Sealift Ship (FSS) Built in West Germany 1973 Launched April 1 1973 SS SEA-LAND FINANCE (Commercial Service) Approved for acquisition in Fiscal Year 1981 Classified Cargo Ship (AK) October 15 1981 Purchased by U.S. Navy May 1 1982 USNS ALTAIR T-AKR-291 Reclassified November 1 1983 Conversion to (T-AKR) started February 1 1984 Delivered to the Military Sealift Command November 13 1985

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     (1987-2007)

 

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

 

Locy Type 2

2004-11-18

Date added by separate rubberstamp device

 

Locy Type 2

2007-03-04

Date determined by USPS postmark

 

Locy Type SL

2007-03-04

Date determined by USPS postmark

 

Return Address

2007-03-04

Date determined by USPS postmark

 

Ship's Marking

1987-05-01 to 1987-05-01

"Welcome to Norfolk" cachet by Tazewell G. Nicholson, postmarked from USS Stump DD-978.

 

Other Information

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons...
National Defense Service Medal
Southwest Asia Service Medal
Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait)

NAMESAKE - A first magnitude star in the constellation Aquila, in the northern Milky Way.

Three ships of the US Navy have been named ALTAIR - USS Altair AD-11, USS Altair AKS-32 and USNS Altair T-AKR-291.

 

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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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