Recovery Force Ships
| Ship | Type | Designation | Covers |
|
Atlantic |
|||
|
SRS - Amphibious Transport |
LPD-4 |
Y |
|
|
SRS - Tank Landing Ship |
LST-1175 |
Y |
|
|
SRS - Salvage Ship |
ARS-40 |
Y |
|
|
SRS - Destroyer |
DD-850 |
Y |
|
|
SRS - Oiler |
AO-25 |
Y |
|
|
Pacific |
|||
|
PRS - Carrier |
CVS-20 |
Y |
|
|
SRS - Destroyer |
DD-825 |
Y (Scarce) |
|
|
Recovery Control Centers |
|||
|
Liftoff Control Center |
N/A |
Y |
|
|
Manned Spacecraft Recovery Force - Atlantic |
N/A |
Y |
|
|
Tracking & Communication Ships |
|||
|
TS - Atlantic |
T-AGM 19 |
Y |
|
|
USNS Range Tracker |
TS - Pacific |
T-AGM 1 |
N |
|
Not Involved |
|||
|
Tracking Ship |
T-AGM 20 |
Y |
|
|
Cachet |
Description of Cachet |
Colours | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Navy AS 501 Cachet - Atlantic |
Designed by Morris Beck it shows a Seal |
Black | Rubber Stamp |
| Navy AS 501 Cachet - Pacific |
Designed by Morris Beck it shows a Seal |
Maroon | Rubber Stamp |
| Navy AS 204 Cachet3 |
Designed by Morris Beck for AS-204 (Apollo 1) it shows an Apollo Command Capsule |
Maroon, Black | Rubber Stamp |
| Beck AS 501 Cachet - Atlantic | Similar to Navy Cachet | Black | Printed |
| Beck AS 501 Cachet - Pacific | Similar to Navy Cachet | Red | Printed |
| Beck AS 204 Cachet3 | Similar to Navy Cachet | Green-Black | Printed |
| Orbit Cachet | Printed cachet with Navy Cachet on back | Green, Maroon | Printed / Rubber Stamp |
| AS 501 Cachet | A small circular text cachet usually appears as an extra cachet. Produced by Morris Beck. | Maroon | Rubber Stamp |
|
Ship |
Description of Postmark |
Scarcity |
|---|---|---|
| USS Bennington | Machine Cancel4 | Common |
| USS Bennington | Hand Cancel | Less Common |
|
PM Time Slug |
Common |
|
|
AM Time Slug |
? |
|
Ship |
Known Cachet Colours |
Beck Numbers |
| USS Austin | Black | 732 |
| USS York County | Black | 746 |
| USS Joseph P Kennedy | Maroon | 733 |
| USS Sabine | Black | 731 |
| USS Bennington | Maroon | 727, 728, 729, 730 |
| Kennedy Space Center3 | Maroon, Black | 716, 717, 718, 719, 720 |
|
Cachet |
Description of Cachet |
Colours | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| USS Bennington6 | Fantasy cover produced by a prisoner | Purple | Rubber Stamp |
| USS Bennington | Late Postmark - Return to Port? | Maroon | Rubber Stamp |
| USS Bennington | Apollo 3 man spacecraft & AS-501 Recovery Force cachets | Aqua | Rubber Stamp |
| Unknown | Splashdown and Recovery Operation cachet shows capsule on parachute & rescue ships | Black | Printed |
| USS Sabine postmark on a Beck B733 printed cover (B733 was reserved for the USS Joseph P. Kennedy). Also has a Norfolk postmark. | Black | Printed | |
| Cape Canaveral1 | AS-501 posponed from 6 Nov. to the 9 Nov. | Black | Printed |
Note:
1) Cover is incorrectly labelled. Nov 6 was actually the start of phase 2 of the countdown and, as usual, included
several holds. There appears to be no evidence that any of these lead to a postponment.
2) From the collection of Dennis Paul
3) These cachets were produced for Apollo 1 (AS 204) and after the fire, kept until this mission
4) Many USS Bennington machine cancels are relatively light
5) From the collection of Tom Steiner
6) See 'Study of Suspect Space Covers' 2nd Edition, Paul C. Bulver et. al., Compact Disk(2001)
7) From the collection of Antoni Rigo
This page © Dr Ross J Smith
This page is maintained by the Webmaster
Last modified on 29 August 2011
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