MARS T-AFS 1

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.

Mars Class Combat Stores Ship Keel Laid May 5 1962 - Launched June 15 1963 USS MARS AFS-1 Commissioned December 1 1963 - Decommissioned February 1 1993 USNS MARS T-AFS-1 Placed In Service February 1 1993 - Out of Service February 19 1998 Struck from Naval Register May 24 2004 Sunk as target July 15 2006 during RIMPAC 2006

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 Mars AFS-1 Covers Page 1     (1963-90)

 

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 FDC 2(n+)

1963-12-21

First Day in Commission

 

Locy Type 2(n+) (USS) 1963

1964-11-19

Note:

 

Locy Type 2(n+) (USS) 1971

1972-08-20

Note:

 

Locy Type 2-1n (AFS1,USS)

1981-12-25

Note:

 

Locy Type 2-1n (AFS 1,USS)

1987-09-03

Note:

 

Locy Type 2t(nu)

1977-05-04

Note:

 

Locy Type 9ef(n+u)(USS)

1967-10-27

Cachet by Martin W. Longseth

 

Locy Type 9-1nu (AFS 1,USS)

1990-07-04

Note:

 

Other Information

USS MARS AFS-1 earned the Combat Action Ribbon, the Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon, the Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation Ribbon (6 awards), the Battle "E" Ribbon (3 awards), the Navy Expeditionary Medal (3 awards), the National Defense Service Medal (2 awards), the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (8 awards), the Vietnam Service Medal (w/ 11 Campaign stars), the Southwest Asia Service Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal (2 awards), the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation (11 awards), the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal and the Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait) during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - In the Roman religion, the god of war. Mars was the father of Romulus, the founder of Rome; next to Jupiter, he enjoyed the highest position in the hierarchy of the gods. March, the third month of the Julian Calendar introduced in 46 B.C., and Mars, the fourth planet in our solar system, conspicuous for the redness of its light; were named for him.
USS Mars AC-6 was named for Mars, the god of war. USS Mars AFS-1 was named after the borough in Butler County in western Pennsylvania that was named for the planet.

Three ships of the US Navy have been named MARS - USS Mars (Galley 1798), USS Mars AC‑6 and USS Mars AFS‑1.

 

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