Hospital Ship SS HOPE, Grace Line Naval Cover 1970 SIGNED Cachet NAVIRE

It was sent 7 Jul 1970. It was franked with stamp "FDR".

This cover is in good, but not perfect condition. Please look at the scan and make your own judgement. 

Member USCS #10385 (I also earned the stamp collecting merit badge as a boy!). Please contact me if you have specific cover needs. I have thousands for sale, including; navals (USS, USNS, USCGC, Coast Guard, ship, Maritime), military posts, event, APO, hotel, postal history, memorabilia, etc. I also offer approvals service with FREE SHIPPING to repeat USA customers.

SS Hope was a hospital ship operated by Project HOPE.[1] This vessel was originally a US Navy hospital ship, USS Consolation (AH-15). Consolation was donated to Project Hope in 1958, and under its new name served from 1960 until 1974, when she was retired. Hope was not replaced, and the emphasis of Project HOPE switched entirely to land-based operations. The project was founded by William B. Walsh.



Contents

1 List of voyages

2 Features

3 See also

4 References

5 Further reading

List of voyages

While in charitable service from 1958 to 1974, this ship voyaged around the world:[2]


Voyage 1, to Indonesia and South Vietnam, September 1960 – September 1961

Voyage 2, to Peru, May 1962 – March 1963

Voyage 3, to Ecuador, November 1963 – September 1964

Voyage 4, to Guinea, September 1964 – September 1965

Voyage 5, to Nicaragua, January 1966 – November 1966

Voyage 6, to Colombia, February 1967 – December 1967

Voyage 7, to Ceylon (Sri Lanka), February 1968 – March 1969

Voyage 8, to Tunisia, August 1969 – August 1970

Voyage 9, to the West Indies, January 1971 – November 1971

Voyages 10 and 11, to Brazil, February 1972 – March 1974

Features

One special piece of equipment was a machine called the Iron Cow. Using distilled seawater, combined with milk solids and butterfat, it was capable of turning out 2500 gallons of milk daily.


This 15,000-ton ship had a pharmacy, three operating rooms, a radiology department, an isolation ward, and closed-circuit television for viewing operations. The medical crew typically consisted of 150 nurses and 100 doctors, who taught American practices in various medical specialties, to colleagues around the world.[2]