BOWDITCH T-AGS 21
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.
Keel Laid May 11 1945 Launched June 30 1945 as SOUTH BEND VICTORY Delivered to Waterman Steamship Corp July 27 1945 Chartered to American Hawaii SS. Co. September 29 1945 Chartered by Sword Line Inc. May 21 1947 Laid up August 28 1948 in National Defense Reserve Fleet, Wilmington,Group Chartered to Prudential SS Co. August 17 1950 Laid up October 22 1953 in National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River Group Acquired by U.S. Navy August 2 1957 Renamed BOWDITCH August 8 1957 Assigned to Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) Oceanographic Unit 1 operated on this ship from November 6 1958 to December 13 1986 Wrecked (hurricane) January 1987 at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Placed Out of Service and struck from Naval Register May 26 1987 Sold March 4 1988 for scrap |
 |
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.
- Covers Page 1 (DATE RANGE)
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 |
Date From to Date To |
Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image |
Thumbnail Link To Cover Image |
|---|
|
NO BOWDITCH POSTMARKS |
DATE FROM
|
Note:
|
Locy Type |
1985-05-16 |
 |
 |
OCEANOGRAPHIC UNIT 1 - Operated in USNS BOWDITCH from Nov 6th 1958 to Dec 13th 1986
Other Information
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons...
Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation - National Defense Service Medal
NAMESAKE - Nathaniel Bowditch (March 26 1773 - March 16 1838)
An astronomer and navigator, he published the first edition of his The New American Practical Navigator in 1802. He as the author of numerous other scientific works including a translation and commentary on Laplace's classic Mecanique Celeste. He died in Boston, Mass., March 16 1838
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.
Copyright 2024 Naval Cover Museum