Recovery Force Ships
| Ship | Type | Designation | Covers |
|
Atlantic |
|||
|
PRS - Carrier |
LPH-7 |
Y |
|
|
SRS - Amphibious Cargo Ship |
LKA-54 |
Y |
|
|
SRS - Fleet Ocean Tug |
AFT-159 |
Y |
|
|
SRS - Tracking Ship (Dual Role) |
T-AGM-19 |
Y |
|
|
Pacific |
|||
|
SRS - Guided Missile Destroyer |
DDG-21 |
Y |
|
|
SRS - Destroyer |
DD-852 |
Y |
|
|
SRS - Anti-Sub Destroyer |
DD-449 |
Y |
|
|
Tracking & Communication Ships |
|||
|
TS - Pacific |
T-AGM 20 |
Y |
|
|
TS - Pacific |
T-AGM 7 |
Y |
|
|
TS - Atlantic |
T-AGM 19 |
Y |
|
|
TS - Pacific |
T-AGM 21 |
Y |
|
|
Recovery Control Center |
|||
|
Atlantic Recovery Control Center |
N/A |
Y |
|
|
Pacific Recovery Control Center |
N/A |
Y (scarce) |
|
|
Ship |
Description of Postmark |
Scarcity |
|---|---|---|
| USS Guadalcanal | Hand Cancel - Guadalcanal at Top | Common |
| USS Guadalcanal | Hand Cancel - Guadalcanal at Bottom | Common |
|
Cachet |
Description of Cachet |
Colours | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Navy Recovery Force Cachet - Atlantic |
Designed by Morris Beck it shows an Apollo rocket |
Black | Rubber Stamp |
| Navy Recovery Force Cachet - Pacific |
Designed by Morris Beck it shows an Apollo rocket |
Black | Rubber Stamp |
| Navy Recovery Force Cachet Apollo 7 Cachet with the 7 removed - Atlantic |
Designed by Morris Beck it shows an Apollo Capsule |
Maroon, Black | Rubber Stamp |
| Beck Cachet2 - Pacific 1 | Similar to Navy Cachet - Should be Atlantic | Blue | Printed |
| Beck Cachet2 - Pacific 2 | Similar to Navy Cachet | Green | Printed |
|
Ship |
Known Cachet Colours |
Beck Numbers |
| USS Guadalcanal | Apollo 7 - Maroon, Black Apollo 9 - Black |
782 (Blue) |
| USS Algol | Apollo 7 - Maroon, Black Apollo 9 - Maroon, Black |
783 (Blue) |
| USS Cochrane | Apollo 7 - Apollo 9 - Maroon |
780 (Green) |
| USS Leonard F. Mason | Apollo 7 - Apollo 9 - Maroon |
None |
| USS Nicholas | Apollo 7 - Apollo 9 - Maroon, Black |
778, 779,781 (all Green) |
| USS Vanguard | Apollo 7 - Apollo 9 - Black |
784 (Blue) |
|
Cachet |
Description of Cachet |
Colours | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| USS Guadalcanal | Unusual Map of Central America & Atlantic Cachet | Maroon | Rubber Stamp |
| USS Guadalcanal | Beck B782 cacheted cover with hand cancel and with PACIFIC blacked out and replaced with ATLANTIC. Very unusual. | Blue | Printed |
| USS Guadalcanal4 | Unusual blue cachet | Blue | Rubber Stamp |
| USS Guadalcanal4 | 'Return to Norfolk' cover - pmk Mar 16 1969 - Navy cachet | Black | Rubber Stamp |
| USS Nicholas | Great Britain Stamps - Navy cachet on back | Maroon | Rubber Stamp |
| USS Nicholas | Great Britain Stamp - Another example | Maroon | Rubber Stamp |
| Atlantic Recovery Force | Navy Apollo 9 Cachet - Cape Canaveral postmark 26 Mar 1969 |
Black | Rubber Stamp |
| Atlantic Recovery Force | Navy Apollo 7 Cachet - Cape Canaveral postmark 26 Mar 1969 |
Maroon | Rubber Stamp |
|
Postmark |
Description of Cover |
Postmark Date |
|---|---|---|
| Cover signed by the Executive Officer | 13 March 1969 | |
| Cover signed by the Commanding Officer, Capt. Roy M. Sudduth | 13 March 1969 |
Note:
1) the USNS Vanguard had a dual role, firstly as a tracking ship and then it was moved to a different
position and acted as a Secondary Recovery Ship. Hence, two quite different cachets exist.
2) The Beck covers for this mission are unusual. Although two different colours were produced as usual, both contained
the 'Pacific' label. It can only be assumed that the blue coloured cachet was meant to be for the Altantic fleet
and the die was incorrectly made with a Pacific label. It's also interesting that only the Vanguard cachet was
overprinted with the word 'Altantic'.
3) Scan from collection of Steve Durst
4) From the collection of Tom Steiner
This page © Dr Ross J Smith
This page is maintained by the Webmaster
Last modified on 2 November 2011
Return
