TOWNER AKA 77

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.

Tolland Class Attack Cargo Ship Keel Laid April 8 1944 - Launched June 18 1944 USS TOWNER AKA-77 Commissioned December 3 1945 - Decommissioned June 10 1946 Returned to Maritime Commission June 13 1946 Struck from Naval Register June 19 1946 Converted for commercial service 1947 PHILIPPINE BEAR (Commercial Service) Sold to Pacific Far East Lines Inc, 19 September 1947 and renamed Sold to Trans-Pacific Co. March 1957 KAIMANA (Commercial Service) Renamed 13 November 1958 Sold to Darama Inc., 23 June 1959 Sold to Long Island Tankers Corp., 3 May 1960 GUAM BEAR (Commercial Service) Renamed 13 July 1960 Sold to Pacific Far East Lines Inc., 7 September 1961 Involved in a collision outside Apra Harbor, Guam in July 1967 Judged a constructive total loss, towed off shore and scuttled.

 

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. USS Towner AKA-77 Covers Page 1     (1944-46)

 

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

 

Locy Type 2z

1946-02-21

Cachet by Harry Klotzbach

 

Locy Type LDPS 2z

1946-06-08

Stamped cachet

 

Other Information

TOWNER earned the following awards during her Naval career - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (w/ 1 Battle star) - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp) - Philippines Liberation Medal.

NAMESAKE - A county in North Dakota named for Oscar M. Towner, a prominent farmer, land owner, and political leader of the Dakota Territory. Towner, born in 1842 served in the territorial legislature. He died in 1897.

 

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