posted 10-29-2015 09:05 PM               

Space Cover 340: Apollo 17 Return to Port Covers?

When collectors think of return to port covers it is typically thought of for the prime recovery ship but the secondary recovery ships also return to port. Above are covers from Apollo 17 secondary recovery ships – the USS Alacrity and USS Fidelity – both cancelled at the Charleston, South Carolina Naval Base Branch post office on December 21, 1972. This is shortly after the December 19th splashdown date for the Apollo 17 mission.

The cover corner cards are from the ships as the ink color and corner cards match the ones that appear on the Apollo 17 recovery ship covers returned during the mission.

It is also known that the home port for both ships was the Charleston Naval Base so could these covers actually be return to port covers after their Apollo 17 deployment? Any thoughts? Only a review of the ships' logs would tell for sure but for now they will be placed with my Apollo 17 covers.

Interestingly, the USS Alacrity cover also has an imprint of the ship's seal.

So look through those dollar boxes because you never know what mystery covers might show up!