CALIFORNIA

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.

Java Class Steam Frigate Laid down - Launched 3 July 1867 as USS MINNETONKA Renamed USS CALIFORNIA on 15 May 1869 USS CALIFORNIA (Steam Frigate) Commissioned 7 October 1870 - Decommissioned (Unknown date) Sold at Mare Island Navy Yard in May 1875.

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.

1. 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 --- Killer Bar Text	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

 

Barbados CDS

1872-04-30

N/A

Note: Also postmarked with "Panama Transit" 19 April 1972 marking. Courtesy of the Jim Myerson Collection.

 

USS California Ship Marking

1872-04-30

Note: Backside of the 1872 cover showing the Ships Marking.

 

Undecipherable

c 1873

N/A

Note: Nice printed return address - "Pacific Fleet, / Medical Department / U. S. Flag-Ship California" Courtesy of the Jim Myerson Collection.

 

Other Information

USS CALIFORNIA had been constructed of partially seasoned timber due to an unprecedented volume of shipbuilding during the war, which caused her hull to deteriorate rapidly.

Ship sponsored by Miss Margaret Bailey.

 

---

 

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