SERPENS AK 97
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.
- Crater Class Cargo Ship
- USS SERPENS AK-97
Commissioned May 28 1943
LOST (internal explosion) January 29 1945
An explosion occured while loading depth charges anchored off Lunga Beach, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands
198 crew, 57 Army stevedores, and a Public Health Service physician, Dr. Harry M. Levin,
were killed in the explosion and another soldier ashore was killed by shrapnel
Keel Laid March 10 1943 - Launched April 5 1943
Acquired by U.S. Navy April 19 1943
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.
- 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 |
Postmark Date |
Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image |
Thumbnail Link To Cover Image |
|---|
|
Locy Type |
1944-08-20 |
 |
This cancel is not identified with the ship, so the cover was posted either on another ship or ashore.
Other Information
SERPENS earned one battle star for her World War II service
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons...
American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (1) - World War II Victory Medal
NAMESAKE - A constellation in the northern hemisphere
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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