VELA T-AK 89

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.

Enceladus Class Cargo Ship Originally designated MV CHARLES A. RANLETT Renamed VELA AK-89 30 October 1942 Acquired from MARCOM by the US Navy 1 January 1943 Keel Laid 5 June 1944 Launched 15 January 1945 VELA AK-89 Transferred to the US Army Transportation Service, 17 January 1945 (2 days after being launched) Struck from the Naval Register 8 February 1945 Allocated to the US Army Corps of Engineers USAPRS JOE C. SPECKER (U.S. Army Core of Engineers) Completed as a Port Rehabilitation Ship and renamed Declared surplus by the US Army, returned to MARCOM 27 August 1947 Laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River Group, Lee Hall, VA. Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) 11 June 1952 USNS VELA T-AK-89 Placed in service 12 June 1952 - Placed out of service (date unknown) Transferred to MARAD for storage Sold for scrapping 17 January 1971

 

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 Vela T-AK-89 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

 

USPO Slogan Machine Postmark Brooklyn, NY

1953-01-02

Note:

 

Other Information

NAMESAKE - Sergeant Joe C. Specker, USA (10 January 1921 – 7 January 1944)
        Specker joined the Army from his birth city of Odessa, Missouri in September 1942, and by January 7, 1944 was serving as a Sergeant in the 48th Engineer Combat Battalion. On that day, at Mount Porchia, Italy, he voluntarily went forward alone to destroy an enemy machine gun emplacement. Although severely wounded during his advance, he continued on and routed the enemy force before succumbing to his wounds. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor six months later, on July 12, 1944.

NAMESAKE - One of four subdivisions of Argo, a large constellation of the Southern Hemisphere, named for the sails of Argo, the ship used by Jason on his voyage in quest of the golden fleece.

The ships sponsor was Mrs. Elbert Bradford Ferguson.

 

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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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