Recovery Force Ships

Ship	Type	Designation	Covers
Atlantic
USS Wasp	PRS - Carrier	CVS-18	Y
USS Ability	SRS - Ocean Minesweeper	MSO-519	N
USS Aucilla	SRS - Oiler	AO-56	Y
USS Joseph P Kennedy Jr	SRS - Destroyer	DD-850	Y
USS Meredith	SRS - Destroyer	DD-890	Y
USS Paiute	SRS - Fleet Ocean Tug	ATF-159	Y
USS Power	SRS - Destroyer	DD-839	Y
USS Waccamaw	SRS - Oiler	AO-109	N
USS Waldron	SRS - Destroyer	DD-699	Y
Pacific
USS Cochrane	SRS - Guided Missile Destroyer	DDG-21	Y
USS George K MacKenzie	SRS - Destroyer	DD-836	Y
USS Ponchatoula	SRS - Oiler	AO-148	Y
USS Renshaw	SRS - Anti-Sub Destroyer	DD-449	Y
USS Rupertus	SRS - Destroyer	DD-851	Y
Tracking & Communications Ships
USNS Rose Knot	TS - West Atlantic, near Sao Tome, Brazil	T-AGM 14	Y
USNS Coastal Sentry	TS - Pacific, NE of the Philippines	T-AGM 15	Y
USNS Range Tracker	TS - Pacific, East of Hawaii	T-AGM 1	U/K
USNS Kingsport	Communications Relay Ship - Position Unknown	T-AG 164	Y
Not Involved
USNS Wheeling	TS - Pacific	T-AGM 8	N

Cachets

Cachet	Description of Cachet	Colours	Type
Navy Recovery Force Cachet GTA-6 - Atlantic	See Gemini-Titan 6 Abort	Red, Black	Rubber Stamp
Navy Recovery Force Cachet GTA-6 - Pacific	See Gemini-Titan 6 Abort	Red, Black	Rubber Stamp
Navy Recovery Force Cachet GT-6 - Atlantic	Designed by Morris Beck it shows 2 capsules	Black	Rubber Stamp
Navy Recovery Force Cachet GT-6 - Pacific	None are known	None	Rubber Stamp
Beck Cachet GTA-6 - Atlantic	Similar to Navy GTA Cachet	Pink-Silver-Black	Printed
Beck Cachet GTA-6 - Pacific	Similar to Navy GTA Cachet	Green-Brown	Printed
Beck Cachet GT-6 - Atlantic	Similar to Navy GTA Cachet with 'A' removed	See Below	Printed
Beck Cachet GT-6 - Pacific	Does not Exist	None	Printed
Sokolsky Cachet	See Article	Various	Rubber Stamp
Harry Gordon Cachet	Text cachet	Red/Blue	Rubber Stamp
GT-6 Cachet	A small circular text cachet usually appears as an extra cachet. Produced by Morris Beck or Harry Gordon	U/K	Rubber Stamp

Postmark Variations

Ship	Description of Postmark	Scarcity
USS Wasp	Machine Cancel PM	Common
USS Wasp	Machine Cancel AM	Less Common
USS Wasp	Machine Cancel - Inverted Year	Scarce
USS Wasp	Hand Cancel	Scarce

Navy Recovery Force Cachet Colours & Beck Cachet Numbers

Ship	Navy Cachet Colours		Beck Numbers	Beck Cachet Colour
	GTA-6	GT-6
USS Wasp	Maroon	Maroon	584	Pink-Silver-Black (GTA-6)
USS Aucilla		Black	612	Light Maroon (GT -6)
USS Cochrane	Maroon		581	Green-Brown (GTA-6)
USS Joseph P Kennedy Jr	Maroon, Black	Black	611	Aqua (GT -6)
USS Power	Maroon, Black(?)	Black	585 613	Pink-Silver-Black (GTA-6) Silver (GT -6)
USS George K MacKenzie	Maroon		580	Green-Brown (GTA-6)
USS Meredith		Black	None	-
USS Ponchatoula	Maroon		579	Green-Brown (GTA-6)
USS Renshaw	Maroon		582	Green-Brown (GTA-6)
USS Rupertus	Maroon		583	Green-Brown (GTA-6)
USS Waldron	Black, Maroon	Black	610	Aqua (GT -6)

Interesting Cachets & Covers

Cachet	Description of Cachet	Colours	Type
USS Wasp Ship's Cachet	Official Ship's cachet shows a Wasp	Black	Rubber Stamp
USS Wasp Ship's Cachet	Official Ship's cachet shows a Wasp - another example	Black	Rubber Stamp
USS Wasp Ship's Cachet	Official Ship's cachet plus a Gordon text cachet and a hand cancel	Black/Red	Rubber Stamp
USS Wasp	On a Beck B613 printed cover which was designed for the USS Power - Extremely rare - only 2 known	Silver	Printed
USS Power	Very unusual cover - USS Power postmark on a USS Jonas Ingram envelope - plus Navy GTA cachet	Maroon	Rubber Stamp

Signed PRS Covers including Helicopter Recovery Covers - most of these covers were actually aboard the PRS during recovery

Postmark	Description of Cover	Postmark Date
USS Wasp	Navy cachet -signed by one of the frogman	16 Dec 1965
Cape Canaveral	A very nice Cennential Cover signed by Primary Recovery Pilot, Air Boss and Tom Stafford	16 Dec 1965
None1	GT-6 unpostmarked Captain's cover signed by Schirra and Stafford as well as the Commanding Officer and Executive Officer of the USS Wasp plus the Recovery Force Commander	None