This is the main entrance to the Naval Cover Collection. The Collection may be accessed via any of the indices described below. Use the navigation bar in the left-hand frame to quickly find and activate an index.

Indices:

1. Covers grouped by Association:
   1. Covers associated with a U.S. ship - Grouped by ship name.
   2. Covers associated with a U.S. ship - Grouped by ship designation and hull number.
   3. Covers not associated with a ship - Grouped by association description.
   4. Covers associated with a non-U.S. ship - Grouped by country and ship name.

2. Covers grouped by Cachet:
   1. Covers grouped by cachet category / sub-category.
   2. Covers grouped by cachet sponsor / director / artist.

3. Covers grouped by Cancel Type / Postmark:
   1. Covers grouped by cancel type and then ship name.
   2. Covers grouped by ship name and then cancel type.
   3. Covers grouped by cancel date and then ship name.
   4. Covers grouped by ship name and then killer bar text.
   5. Covers grouped by killer bar text in alphabetical order.

4. Covers grouped by Historical Interest category.

5. Covers grouped by Symbols found on the cover.

6. Covers grouped by special Features found on or part of the cover.

7. Covers grouped by the Sequence in which they were added to the Collection.
   1. Covers recently added or updated.
   2. Covers in order of addition.

8. Other Items related to covers or ships.
   1. Other Items Related to a Ship
   2. Other Items Not Related to a Ship
   3. Cover Contents

Index Descriptions:

An Association is the primary method for identifying what a cover is related to (typically a ship). A cover is associated with a ship if the ship's name is in the cancel or appears as part of the cachet or other marking on the cover. If the cover cannot be associated with a ship, then it must be related to naval matters in some way (ie, location, event, etc) and is classified as having a non-ship association. A cover can generate multiple ship associations or multiple non-ship associations but will usually not generate both ship and non-ship associations. All covers are guaranteed to have at least one association.

For example, a cover may be cancelled aboard the U.S.S. Arizona (BB-39) but commemorate the loss of the airship U.S.S. Macon (ZRS-5). This cover would have the following associations:

1. U.S.S. Arizona BB-39
2. U.S.S. Macon ZRS-5

A Cachet is a picture or design that is drawn, imprinted, stamped, or otherwise attached to the cover. A cachet Category represents the main theme of the cachet. Categories are sometimes divided into sub-categories based on Year, Ship Name, etc. Examples are:

1. New Years Day - 1935
2. Shakedown Cruise - U.S.S. Honolulu
3. Port Visit - Seattle

Covers with a cachet will always be assigned to a category (even if it is only "Other"). Note that not all categories have a sub-category.

Cachets frequently identify a Sponsor, Director, and/or Artist (SDA). I consider the terms to be interchangeable for purposes of indexing but make distinctions within an individual cover's source document body (ie, XML file) as warranted. In some cases, a particular SDA may be known by multiple titles. For those cases that I know about, selecting one of the titles will retrieve all covers by that SDA regardless of what title was actually used on the cover. The Universal Ship Cancellation Society publishes and sells an excellent reference: Naval Cover Cachet Makers Catalog.

A Cancel is the hand or machine applied postmark that is used to "cancel" the stamp on the cover. It usually consists of a round dial and long "killer" bars that are applied on top of the stamp and thus mark it as used. The dial typically contains the ship name and date of cancellation. A cancel may have no date (or no legible date), exactly one date (most typical), or multiple dates (rare). The killer bars sometimes contain text between the bars.

The Collection uses "The Locy System for Classifying Naval Postmarks, As Revised ©, of the Universal Ship Cancellation Society" (ie, Type 1, Type 2, etc). The Universal Ship Cancellation Society publishes and sells an excellent reference: Catalog of United States Naval Postmarks (ISBN 0-9657316-0-X).

Some covers are associated with ships that have Historical Interest (ie, the ship participated in some historical event). Examples of historical interest categories are:

1. Ship at Pearl Harbor on Dec 7 1941
2. Ship sunk in World War 2
3. Ship was target at Bikini Atomic Bomb Testing

Many covers (either with or without a cachet) contain Symbols (drawings) of various things (ie, ships, palm trees, mermaids, etc). All significant symbols are identified and included in the index.

A Feature is an infrequent extra sometimes found on a cover. Examples are:

1. Ship's Seal
2. Small Photo
3. Pre-Printed Corner Card
4. Handpainted Cachet
5. Thermographed Cachet

Recently Added or Updated covers are those that were added or updated either within the last month or the last three updates (whichever is greater).

Other Items are items related to a ship or naval cover but are not covers. Examples of other items are:

1. Visitor Guide for a particular ship
2. Contents of a cover

Covers versus Index Entries: