ACHERNAR AKA 53
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.
-
Andromeda Class Attack Cargo Ship
- USS ACHERNAR AKA-53
Commissioned 31 January 1944
Assigned to Naval Transportation Service (NTS) 1946
Transferred to Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) 1 October 1949
Decommissioned 18 May 1956
Recommissioned 1 September 1961 - Decommissioned 1 July 1963
Struck from Naval Register 2 February 1965
- CASTILLA TA-21
Sold to Spain 2 February 1965 and renamed
Decommissioned by Spain to reserves 1980
Struck from the Spanish Navy List 1 January 1982
Scrapped 1987
Keel Laid 6 September 1943 - Launched 3 December 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 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.
- USS Achernar AKA-53 Covers Page 1 (1946-1955)
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 |
Postmark Date |
Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image |
Thumbnail Link To Cover Image |
|---|
Post Office Established 31 January 1944 - Disestablished 9 December 1946
|
Locy Type |
1946-12-03 |
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 |
Note:
|
Locy Type P |
1946-01-14 |
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 |
Cacheted. From the Bob Govern collection.
|
Locy Type P |
1946-07-25 |
 |
 |
Cachet by Winfred M. Grandy
|
Locy Type P |
1946-12-03 |
 |
|
Ship name repositioned.
In 1950, no post office aboard
|
Fleet Post Office |
1950-03-20 |
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Note:
|
Cachet |
1950 |
 |
 |
"In 1950 with no post office aboard, the yeoman used a cachet as if it were a cancel" USCS Postmark Catalog
Post Office Reestablished 20 March 1951 to 19 December 1955
|
Locy Type |
1951-04-02 |
 |
 |
First Day Postal Service
|
Locy Type 2 |
1954-07-19 |
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 |
Note:
Post Office Reestablished 1961 - Disestablished 1 July 1963
|
Locy Type 2(n) |
1961-12-09 |
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 |
Note:
Other Information
USS ACHERNAR earned the Combat Action Ribbon, the China Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal w/ 2 Battle stars, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ 1 Battle star, the World War II Victory Medal, the Navy Occupation Service Medal w/ Asia clasp, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korea Service Medal w/ 3 Campaign stars, the United Nations Service Medal and the Republic of Korea War Memorial Medal during her Naval career.
NAMESAKE - Named for the brightest star in the southern constellation Eridanus with a magnitude of .6. It is at least 200 times more luminous than the sun and one of the 10 brightest stars in the sky. It is about 118 light-years from the Earth.
The ships sponsor was Mrs. Adela Rogers St. John.
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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