MICHELSON T-AGS 23
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 5 1944 - Launched June 14 1944 contract to the War Shipping Administration by Alaska Steamship Co. Chartered July 12 1946 to Seas Shipping Co. Laid up July 1 1948 in Reserve Fleet Contracted July 27 1950 to Isbrandtsen Inc. Chartered August 14 1950 to Alaska Steamship Co. Laid up October 31 1953 in Reserve Fleet Acquired by U.S. Navy February 8 1958 Converted to Survey Ship Bowditch Class Oceanographic Survey Ship Assigned to Military Sealift Command (MSC) Oceanographic Unit 3 operated on board this ship from December 17 1958 to February 9 1975 Struck from Naval Register April 15 1975 Laid up in Reserve Fleet Sold September 22 1977 for non-transportation use |
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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.
- USNS Michelson T-AGS-23 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.
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Postmark Type |
Postmark Date |
Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image |
Thumbnail Link To Cover Image |
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Locy Type |
1972-12-21 |
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Unlisted in the USCS Postmark Catalog. Cancel should be "T-AGS" not "T-AGE".
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USPS |
c1972 |
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N/A |
Official Ships Cachet
Other Information
SS JOLIET VICTORY earned the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ 1 Battle star, the World War II Victory Medal and the Philippines Liberation Medal w/ one bronze star during her Naval service during World War II
NAMESAKE - JOLIET VICTORY - Cities named Joliet
USNS MICHELSON earned the National Defense Service Medal during her Navy career
NAMESAKE - MICHELSON - Albert Abraham Michelson was born 19 December 1852 at Strelno, Poland. At an early age, he and his parents immigrated to the United States, where they settled in San Francisco. He entered the U.S. Naval Academy 28 June 1869 and graduated 1873. After service on the North Atlantic Station in Worcester and Constellation, Michelson then returned to the academy as instructor of physics and chemistry. There he prepared a paper “On a Method of Measuring the Velocity of Light” which won him worldwide recognition.
Michelson was commissioned master 5 March 1879, and in 1880 was given leave of absence for advanced studies in Europe. He resigned from the Navy 30 September 1881 to continue intensive study of physics. In 1907, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics, the first American to be so honored. In the course of his research he received 11 honorary degrees from American and European universities, and numerous medals awarded for scientific achievement. He returned to the naval service as a lieutenant commander in Reserve status, and served in the Bureau of Ordnance during the closing months of World War I. Appointed commander in the Reserve in May 1919, he was recalled briefly to active duty in the 9th Naval District. Commander Michelson was released from the Navy 30 September 1921, and after another decade of significant research into the properties of light, died 9 May 1931 in Pasadena, Calif. {DANFS}
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