posted 05-26-2024 03:03 PM               

Space Cover 755: Project Gemini Lesser-Known Recovery Ships

Most space collectors have Project Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, Skylab, and ASTP recovery ships in their collections – especially the prime recovery ships. The Project Gemini and Apollo recovery ships tend to be easily recognizable because of the printed Beck cachet or the rubber stamp version Beck supplied to the ships for their use.

However, the much harder task is to find the less known recovery ships. Below is a list of the rarer Project Gemini recovery ships.

• GT-2 USS Putnam
  
• GT-3 USCGC Diligence
  
• GT-3 USS Harwood
  
• GT-3 USS Nimpuc
  
• GT-3 USS Sturdy
  
• GT-3 USS Swerve
  
• GT-3 USCGC Vigilant
  
• GT-4 USS Nimble
  
• GT-5 USS Avenge
  
• GT-5 USS Exultant
  
• GT-5 USS Preserver
  
• GT-6 abort USS Fidelity
  
• GT-7 USS Paiute
  
• GT-9 abort USS Papago
  
• GT-10 USS Hassayampa
  
• GT-11 USS Severn

Interestingly, the USS Fidelity was involved in the GT-6 abort recovery force but not involved in the GT-6A recovery force. Also, the USS Papago has covers for the GT-9 abort for May 17, 1966, but no covers for the GT-9A flight.

Many people think these smaller ships didn't participate much in the recovery effort but some played key roles. For example, the USCGC Diligence and her sister ship USCGC Vigilant, with attached HH-52 helicopters, joined the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid as part of the Gemini 3 recovery force. The Gemini 3 mission was launched on the morning of March 23, 1965, and splashed down approximately four hours later just short of the designated landing area. USCGC Diligence was first on scene and launched its helicopter to ensure the safety of the Gemini capsule and crew. Sometime afterward, Navy helicopters from USS Intrepid recovered the astronauts. Although the Coast Guard was largely uncredited in the space recovery missions, this mission proved the versatility of the new class of USCG cutter put in service in 1963.

Note that many of these ships, as smaller ships, are without post offices/postal clerks so their covers can only be found with cancels as they leave port for the recovery zone or upon return to port after the recovery. As seen in the scans, the USS Sturdy for Gemini 3 and the USS Nimble for Gemini 4 were both cancelled upon return to their port of Charleston, South Carolina, several days after the missions splashed down.

Thanks to Bob Boudwin and Harry Gordon there are some covers for these ships.

Do you have any of these – or other rare recovery ships - covers in your collection?

posted 05-27-2024 07:58 AM               

The majority of my PRS covers are of the Beck Navy rubber stamp cachet variety, although I have a few Captain's Cover types. I have recently begun to collect Beck numbered PRS cachets and unnumbered Crew Covers, but the task is proving harder than I first imagined. And so, until that task is completed I have put off trying to find secondary recovery ship covers whether rare or commonplace (although I am actively searching for Carpenter's USS Farragut), and therefore cannot share any images.

Presently I have only one rare recovery ship's cover that is not a PRS which is the Actual Recovery Ship USS John R Pierce (the subject of SCOTW 160).

posted 05-28-2024 09:11 PM               

GT-4 USS Nimble
GT-5 Exultant
GT-6 Abort Fidelity
GT-9 Abort USS Papago
GT-10 Hassayampa