US RECEIVING SHIP VA NORFOLK FRANKLIN

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.

USS FRANKLIN - SCREW FRIGATE
Commissioned June 3 1867 - Decommissioned November 13 1871
Recommissioned December 15 1873 - Decommissioned March 2 1877
USS FRANKLIN - RECEIVING SHIP
Recommissioned March 2 1877 - Decommissioned October 14 1915

Stricken from the Navy Register October 26 1915 and sold.

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.

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	Date From to Date To	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

3rd Commissioning as Receiving Ship Norfolk March 2 1877 to October 14 1915

N/A

c 1903-1915

N/A

Picture postcard of the Receiving Ship Franklin (1877-1915) and Receiving Ship Richmond (1903-1919)

Other Information

NAMESAKE - Benjamin Franklin (1706-90) was born in Boston but moved at an early age to Philadelphia where his countless talents and unlimited energies found expression in successful contributions as a statesman, diplomat, scientist, editor-author, and philosopher. During the Revolution he was appointed American Minister Plenipotentiary to the French Court enabling him to function also as the Navy's representative in Europe. He promoted the plan to bring the war to British shores, supporting Lambert Wickes' spectacular raids and enabling John Paul Jones to perform his daring feats by providing funds, attending to purchases and repairs, and determining questions of authority and discipline. His astute and visionary policies merit for him deserved recognition in the annals of the infant Navy as well as esteem as a founder of the United States.

There have been five ships of the US Navy named FRANKLIN - USS Franklin (Schooner 1775), USS Franklin (Brig 1795), USS Franklin (Ship-of-the-Line 1815), USS Franklin (Screw Frigate 1867), USS Franklin CV-13. There has been one submarine of the US Navy named BENJAMIN FRANKLIN - USS Benjamin Franklin SSBN-640.

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.