USS HOUSTON CA 30
“The galloping Ghost of the
Donated by
Steve and Sue Kovacs
For the past 23 years I've been an
avid collector of matchbook covers issued by Navy ships. Back in the
early 1990's I donated a cover to the USS Houston Memorial at the
Yesterday, I was on the
Despite the number of matchcover catalogs and bulletins that have survived from the era, I have been completely unsuccessful in my attempt to assign to these items a precise date-of-issue, even to a specific year. All I can say with absolute certainty is that they date to the late-1930's.
It may interest you to know that the
blue/gold matchbook was re-ordered by the Ship's Service
Department perhaps a half-dozen times as shipboard stocks were
depleted. While the overall design remained the same each time, there are
subtle differences that allow the issues to be told apart. For example,
while most of those were printed by Diamond Match in
The gold/black issue was ordered by
the ship but once. For the record, a third design was used aboard ship
but, alas, in all my years of collecting and associating with other
collectors, I've never seen it. I only know of its existence
thanks to an old catalog. Obviously, it may be
considered the rarest of all of
Wartime security restrictions would
have necessitated the removal of all such matchbooks from aboard ship after the
Thank you for the kindness of your
time. It does my heart good to know you are actively carrying on the
memory of your father and the other crewmen who suffered
-Steve ca31@qcnet.net. [If your
eyes were sharp, yes, that is indeed the hull number of