PVT FRANK J PETRARCA T-AK 250

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.

Alamosa Class Cargo Ship Keel Laid 18 April 1945 as MV LONG SPLICE Launched 7 August 1945 Delivered to the WSA 20 September 1945 USAT PVT FRANK J. PETRARCA Commissioned by the US Army 20 September 1945 Decommissioned by the US Army and acquired by the US Navy 1 March 1950 USNS PVT FRANK J. PETRARCA T-AK-250 Assigned to MSTS and placed in service Placed out of service 9 April 1959 Returned to MARAD for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet USNS PVT FRANK J. PETRARCA T-AK-250 Reacquired from MARAD, and placed back in service 7 April 1960 Placed out of service, date unknown Struck from the Naval Register, 15 October 1973 Sold for non-transportation use, 28 December 1977, to General Auto Wrecking Co., Resold to Trident Seafoods Co., converted to a fish processing ship, renamed MV ARCTIC PRODUCER Renamed MV ARCTIC ENTERPRISE in 1991 Current Disposition, active as a fish processing factory ship

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. 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

 

US Army Postal Service Machine Postmark

1950-04-14

The ship had no postal facilities.

 

Other Information

NAMESAKE - Frank Joseph Petrarca (July 31, 1918 – July 31, 1943) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II. Petrarca joined the Army from his birth city of Cleveland, Ohio, and by July 27, 1943 was serving as a private first class in the Medical Detachment of the 145th Infantry Regiment, 37th Infantry Division. On that day, at Horseshoe Hill on New Georgia in the Solomon Islands, he provided aid to three wounded soldiers despite intense enemy fire. Two days later, on July 29, he helped another wounded soldier who had been partially buried during a mortar barrage. On July 31, he again braved intense hostile fire to aid a wounded comrade, but was killed before he could reach the soldier. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor five months later, on December 23, 1943. Petrarca, killed on his 25th birthday, was buried at Calvary Cemetery in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.

 

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