March 2004 Cover |
by Steve Shay |
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USS HOPPER |
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For many years, San Francisco has hosted Fleet Week activities in October. Following the terrorist attacks on 9/11 in 2001, Fleet Week was cancelled for security reasons. The USCS USS Saginaw Chapter had already prepared 6 covers for the event. It was decided to mail the envelopes to the 6 ships scheduled to be at Fleet week, modifying the covers with the notation that Fleet Week 2001 was cancelled. Two ships, USS Pearl Harbor and USS Bon Homme Richard returned covers cancelled October 6, 2001, as requested, soon after being sent to the ships. Four ships did not return the covers. Then in November 2003, the USS Hopper covers were returned. (Two years later!) Cancelled on October 6, 2001, the covers must have been set aside in the post office area aboard the Hopper as the envelope used to mail the covers was cancelled on Hopper and dated November 3, 2003. Most likely a new postal clerk came aboard and found the covers and returned them. This is the USS Hopper cover. The cachet was designed and prepared by Dick Cerasoli using a Personal Computer and printed on a color dot matrix printer. The cachet features the Arleigh Burke class ship underway, an image of Grace Hopper, the admiral the ship was named for and the ship's insignia. Grace Hopper was a pioneer in the use of computers and is credited with coining the term "bug" when associated with a problem with a computer program. The cover has a Type 9-2n+ cancel. |
