Naval Covers

Pacific fleet cachet c. 1937

To a stamp collector, or philatelist, a naval cover is not a sailor's white hat but an envelope or postcard that has been mailed from a naval vessel as evidenced by postal markings or shipboard cancellations. Sometimes a cachet, an imprinted image or rubber stamped design is added to create an interesting postal souvenir.

Some cachets were designed for a specific ship while others were generic (perhaps for a holiday or commemorating an historical event) and used aboard many different naval vessels.

Here are two naval covers mailed from USNS Michelson. The rubber stamped anchor cachet seems to have been used aboard the ship during the early 1970s. The funny purple color looks to have been created by adding black ink to a red stamp pad (remember them?) or vice versa. 

This cover bears a Oceano Unit 3 postmark as well as the purple anchor cachet.




A USNS Bowditch Oceanographic Unit 1 cover from 1985.




This one bearing a Oceanographic Unit 2 cachet was posted aboard USNS Dutton.




Here are two more naval covers, USS Maine Centennial 1998 and Navy Day in Honolulu 1934.



Here are some more examples of cachets found on naval covers.

In 1946 the US Postal Service issued a set of stamps commemorating the armed forces contribution during WW II. The Merchant Marine and Navy stamps are below. The vessel unloading cargo is a Liberty Ship (EC2).