Recovery Force Ships
| Ship | Type | Designation | Covers |
|
Atlantic |
|||
|
SRS - Destroyer |
DD-818 |
Y |
|
|
SRS - Mine Countermeasures Support Ship |
MCS-2 |
Y |
|
|
SRS - Fleet Ocean Tug |
AFT-161 |
Y |
|
|
Pacific |
|||
|
PRS - Carrier |
CVS-12 |
Y |
|
|
SRS - Guided Missile Destroyer |
DDG-20 |
Y |
|
|
Tracking Ships2 |
|||
|
TS - Pacific |
T-AGM 20 |
Y |
|
|
TS - Pacific |
T-AGM 7 |
Y |
|
|
TS - Pacific |
T-AGM 21 |
Y |
|
|
TS - Tracking Ship |
T-AGM-19 |
Y |
|
|
Other |
|||
|
Communications Relay Ship - Presidential Liaison Support |
AGRM-2 |
Y |
|
|
Destroyer - Presidential SAR Support |
DD-825 |
Y (Extremely rare) |
|
|
SRS - Oiler - Replenishment vessel for both fleets |
AO-145 |
Y (Only one known)10 |
|
|
Recovery Control Centers |
|||
|
Atlantic Recovery Control Center |
N/A |
Y |
|
|
Pacific Recovery Control Center |
N/A |
Y |
|
|
Ship |
Description of Postmark |
Scarcity |
|---|---|---|
| Machine Cancel - Type I ' -AM' 23mm dia. | Less Common | |
| Machine Cancel - Type II 'AM' 21mm dia. | More Common | |
| USS Hornet | Hand Cancel | Least Common |
| USS Hornet5 | Both a Hand Cancel and a Machine Cancel! | Rare |
| USS Hornet8 | Another with both a Hand Cancel and a Machine Cancel! | Rare |
| USS New | AM Below 24 | Common |
| USS New | A.M. Above 24 | Less Common |
| Honolulu 1 Aug 1969 Cancel | Common | |
| USS Goldsborough | 'No Dots' Postmark "AM" | Common |
| USS Goldsborough4 | ' Dots' Postmark "A.M." | Rare |
|
Cachet |
Description of Cachet |
Colours | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Navy Recovery Force Cachet Pacific |
Designed by Morris Beck it shows an Apollo Command Module and a detacted Lunar Lander |
Maroon | Rubber Stamp |
| Navy Recovery Force Cachet Atlantic |
As above but confined within a square and of different dimensions |
Maroon, Black | Rubber Stamp |
| Beck Cachet - Atlantic | Similar to Navy Cachet for the Atlantic | Green/Orange/Blackk | Printed |
| Beck Cachet - Pacific | Similar to Navy Cachet for the Atlantic | Red/Green/Black | Printed |
| Beck 5th Anniv. Cover | Shows Part Earth, Capsule in Water & Seal | Orange/Green Blue | Printed |
| Orbit Cachet5 | Printed cachet with Navy Cachet on top | Greyscale/Maroon | Printed/Rubber Stamp |
| Goldraft Cachet | Maroon Navy Cachet plus Black President Nixon Goldey Cachet | Maroon/Black | Rubber Stamp |
| A Different Goldcraft Cachet | An Apollo 11 rocket on pad cachet | Red | Rubber Stamp |
|
Ship |
Known Cachet Colours |
Beck Numbers |
| USS New | Black | B807 |
| USS Ozark | Maroon, Black | B805, B806 |
| USS Hornet | Maroon | B801, B802 |
| USS Arlington | Maroon | None |
| USS Goldsborough | Maroon | B803, B804 |
|
5th Anniversary Covers |
||
| USS Goldsborough | None | 925 |
| USS New | None | 926 |
| USS Iwo Jima | None | 927 |
| USS Austin | None | 928 |
| USS Hawkins | None | 929 |
|
Cachet |
Description of Cachet |
Colours | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| USS Hornet | Cover from Frank Overton, a member of the crew plus a letter from Frank to his family | Maroon | Rubber Stamp |
| USS Hornet | Cachet shows capsuke in the sea with a helicopter approaching | Black | Printed |
| USS Hornet5 | General Apollo 11 Astronaut on the Moon cachet | Aqua | Printed? |
| USS Hornet5 | Cachet shows a Carrier | Blue | Rubber Stamp? |
| USS Hornet6 | Cachet shows drawing of a Carrier plus capsule under parachutes | Black | Rubber Stamp? |
| USS Hornet7 | Rare IRC card | Maroon | Rubber Stamp |
| USS New7a | Goldcraft cachet shows a rocket on its pad | Red | Rubber Stamp |
| USS Ozark | US Navy Recovery Force Atlantic Fleet Shield | Black | Rubber Stamp |
| USS Ozark5 | Cover has Ship's Cachet in addition to the usual Navy Cachet | Black/Maroon | Rubber Stamp |
| USS Ozark | Mission emblem cover. Unusual for a Secondary Recovery Ship | Multicolour | Printed |
| Western Samoa | Special Recovery Postmark | Black | Hand Cancel |
| Washington | President aboard Primary Recovery Ship USS Hornet 24 July 1969 |
Grey Scale | Printed |
| Honolulu | Maroon Navy Recovey Force cachet - late postmark 18 Aug | Maroon | Rubber Stamp |
| Honolulu | Maroon Navy Recovey Force cachet - late postmark - possibly return to port - 27 Jul | Maroon | Rubber Stamp |
| USS Goldsborough | Maroon Navy Recovey Force cachet on top of unusual Apollo 11 picture cachet | B&W - Maroon | Printed / Rubber Stamp |
|
Postmark |
Description of Cover |
Postmark Date |
|---|---|---|
| Signed by the ship's Commander - Machine Cancel Type 1 | 24 July 1969 | |
| Signed by the ship's Commander & Executive Officer - Machine Cancel Type 2 | 24 July 1969 | |
| Signed by the ship's Commander - Hand Cancel | 24 July 1969 | |
| Signed by the NASA Recovery Team Leader Dr Donald Stullhen - Machine Pmk | 24 July 1969 | |
| Photo | Photo of a helicopter landing on the USS Hornet signed by Recovery helicopter pilot Cdr Donald Jones | None |
| USS Hornet6 | Signed by the ship's Commander and the Recovery Helicopter Pilot - Hand Pmk | 24 July 1969 |
| USS Hornet5 | Signed by the Recovery Helicopter Pilot - Hand Pmk | 24 July 1969 |
| USS Hornet7 | Signed by Swin II Recovery Helicopter team | 24 July 1969 |
| USS Hornet7 | Beck B802 printed cover signed by John C. Stonesifer Chief, Recovery Systems Branch, Landing and Recovery Division and Donald E. Stullken NASA Recovery Team Leader | 24 July 1969 |
| USS Hornet9 | A great cover - A Captain's cover signed by the ship's Commander - Hand Pmk | 24 July 1969 |
| Signed by 4 members of the UDT-11 frogmen on back of cover | 24 July 1969 | |
| USS Hornet | Signed by 4 members of the UDT-11 frogmen & Air Boss (one HC & one MC) | 24 July 1969 |
Note:
1) Fleet Tug USS Salinan was a secondary recovery ship in case of a launch abort on the 16th.
2) After Apollo 11, NASA released the Redstone, Mercury and Hunstville, keeping only the Vanguard for the remaining
six Apollo flights. Even then, the Vanguard was not a Primary tracking station, but a secondary one.
3) The most common cover for this ship has a Honolulu postmark. However, a small number of covers with a USS Arlington
postmark exist and are most desireable.
4) So far only 6 copies have been found out of several dozen USS Goldsborough covers examined
5) From the collection of Tom Steiner
6) Two examples sold on eBay during 2010 for $US37-$43
7) Sold on eBay in 2010 7a) in 2011
8) From the collection of David Ball - David comments 'With a quarter million pieces of mail to postmark the envelope
must have received the machine cancel first (one of 240,000). Since it was faced wrong (upside down) with no automated
method of realizing it (tagged stamp or electric eye) it was postmarked but not cancelled. When they realized the
error they went back with the HC (one of 10,000) to finish the job.'
9) From the collection of Woody Witt
10) Only one cover is know and it has an extremely poor postmark. However the date is quite clear and there are
enough letters visible to identify it as the USS Hassayampa.
11) 'Continuing her service in the Western Pacific, Hassayampa served as replenishment vessel during the Apollo
11 recovery mission where she was on hand for replenishment duties for USS Hornet (CVS-12) and support vessels
USS Arlington (AGMR-2), USS Goldsborough (DDG-20), USS New (DD-818), USS Ozark (MCS-2) and USS Salinan (ATF-161).
On 22 July 1969, the USS Hassayampa refueled the USS Hornet (CVS-12) just prior to Hornet's recovery of the Apollo
11 space capsule. Hornet's deck log shows this occurring on July 22, 1969, about 36 hours before Hornet picked
up the Apollo 11 astronauts.' (http://www.angelwind.com/hassayampa/history.html)
This page © Dr Ross J Smith
This page is maintained by the Webmaster
Last modified on 18 January 2012
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