First day cover for the U.S.S. CASTOR

first day cover

First day cover for the U.S.S. CASTOR (AKS-1, built 1939), stores issue ship; front of envelope has cachet on left in black and green ink depicting an unidentified navy ship underway, in circle around image is eagle with spread wings at top and five stars on each side, bottom is ribbon tied in knot, printed inside circle "UNITED STATES NAVY/ AUXILARIES"; stamp on right features profile portrait of Benjamin Franklin, printed on stamp "UNITED/ STATES/ POSTAGE/ BENJAMIN/ FRANKLIN/ 1/2 CENT 1/2"; stamp postmarked "U.S.S. CASTOR/ JUL/ 24/ 1941/ REGISTERED". The U.S.S. CASTOR was repeatedly strafed by enemy planes during the attack on Pearl Harbor but suffered no casualties (see correspondence file).