ELECTRA AKA 4
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.
- Arcturus Class Cargo Ship
- USS ELECTRA AK-21
Commissioned 17 March 1942
- USS ELECTRA AKA-4
Reclassified Attack Cargo Ship (AKA) 1 February 1943
Decommissioned 19 March 1946
Struck from Naval Register (Date unknown)
Transferred to Maritime Commission
Reacquired by U.S. Navy 16 October 1951
Recommissioned 3 May 1952 - Decommissioned 13 May 1955
Struck from Naval Register 1 July 1961
Returned to Maritime Commission 1 October 1962
Sold 7 May 1974 for scrap
Keel Laid (Date unknown) as METEOR
Acquired by U.S. Navy 16 April 1941
Launched 18 November 1941
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 Electra AK-21 / AKA-4 Covers Page 1 (1942-1954)
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 March 18 1942 - Disestablished March 6 1946
|
Locy Type |
1942-03-17 |
 |
 |
AK-21. First Day of Commission
|
Locy Type |
1942-03-17 |
 |
 |
AK-21. First Day of Commission, cachet by Howard D. Roloff
|
Locy Type |
1943-04-06 |
 |
 |
AKA-4. Censored WWII V-MAIL use.
|
Locy Type |
1943-02-22 |
 |
 |
AK-21. From the Richard F. Hoffner collection.
|
Locy Type |
1942-03-23 |
 |
 |
AK-21. Mark from back of cover
|
Locy Type |
1943-02-22 |
 |
|
AK-21. From the Richard F. Hoffner collection.
Post Office Reestablished April 14 1952 - Disestablished February 25 1955
|
Locy Type |
1952-05-03 |
 |
 |
AKA-4. First Day in Commission, cachet by Tazewell G. Nicholson
|
Locy Type 2r |
1952-05-19 |
 |
 |
AKA-4
|
Locy Type |
1954-07-21 |
 |
 |
AKA-4
Other Information
USS ELECTRA earned the American Campaign Medal, the Europe-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal w/ 1 Battle star, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ 6 Battle stars, the World War II Victory Medal, the Navy Occupation Service Medal w/ Asia clasp and the National Defense Service Medal during her Naval career.
NAMESAKE - In Greek mythology, the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Also, a star.
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