ARCTURUS AF 52

Ship Name and Designation History

This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.

USAT GOLDEN EAGLE
Commissioned 1948 - Decommissioned 1950
Acquired by U.S. Navy March 1 1950
Assigned to Military Sea Transportation Service
USNS GOLDEN EAGLE T-AF-52
Placed In Service March 1 1950 - Out of Service (Date unknown)
Renamed October 13 1961
USS ARCTURUS AF-52
Commissioned November 18 1961 - Decommissioned May 16 1973

Struck from Naval Register December 9 1985
Sunk as target July 24 1997

Naval Covers

This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each name of the ship (for example, Bushnell AG-32 / Sumner AGS-5 are different names for the same ship so there should be one set of pages for Bushnell and one set for Sumner). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).

Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.

USS Arcturus AF-52 Covers Page 1 (1966-72)

Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each name and/or commissioning period. Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.

A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.

>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the existing example.

Postmark Type --- Killer Bar Text	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

USPO Slogan
Machine Postmark

Bayonne, NJ
"PRAY /
FOR
PEACE"

1958-01-27

As USNS Golden Eagle. The ship had no postal facilities.

Post Office Established November 18 1961 - Disestablished October 31 1972

Locy Type
FDC F

USCS Postmark
Catalog Illus. A-36

1961-11-18

First Day in Commission, ship's stationary.

Locy Type
2(n) (USS)

1970-08-04

Welcoming TCG ISKENDERUN (ex USS Boyd DD-544) to Norfolk, cachet by Tazewell G. Nicholson

Locy Type
2(n) (USS)

1970-10-02

Welcoming USS Salish ATA-187 to Norfolk, cachet by Tazewell G. Nicholson

Locy Type
9ef(nu)

1967-06-30

Mark from back of cover

Locy Type PPB

USCS Postmark
Catalog Illus. A-36a

1966-10-28

Note:

Locy Type
LDC 2(n) Oct 31, 1972

1972-10-31

Last Day Postal Service
(Listed as LDC in USCS Catalog)

Locy Type
LDPS 9ef(nu)

1972-10-31

Last Day Postal Service

Other Information

USS ARCTURUS received the National Defense Service Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - The principal star of the northern constellation Bootes with a magnitude of .2 and located 36 light years distant from the Earth.

If you have images or information to add to this page, then either contact the Curator or edit this page yourself and add it. See Editing Ship Pages for detailed information on editing this page.