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USS TRIGGER (SS 564) Postal Covers

Stefano Porcu
Stefano Porcu, 52, lives in San Sperate, Sardinia, where he works in public administration; he is also a software developer and a lifelong stamp collector.
His connection to the ex-Trigger runs through family — a relative served in the commissioning crew of the Livio Piomarta (S 515) — and through the friendships he has built with Italian submarine veterans, whose recollections are a living part of his research.
The project began in 2006 and produced a first edition in 2010; the much-expanded second edition now in preparation spans two volumes, written in Italian and released on a non-commercial basis: one book on the Evangelista Torricelli (the former USS Lizardfish) and one on the Livio Piomarta (the former USS Trigger, SS-564), following the boat from her keel at Groton in 1949 to her stricken date under the Italian flag in 1986.
The method combines official records — personnel diaries, deck logs, command reports and message traffic from NHHC, NARA, the Naval Vessel Register and coldwarboats.org — with the memory of the men who sailed her, collected before it fades.
The postal covers in this collection, found piece by piece on the American collectors' market, join his stamp collecting to the boat's story: one more way of gathering what remains of her. Every source is credited — coldwarboats.org first among them.
 

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In the philatelic world, that of stamp collecting, a cover is a card or envelope that has traveled through the mail and contains postal markings. Collectors often prize first day covers, those postmarked on the first day of a stamp's release, or topical covers, those envelopes with a printed, stamped, or embossed design related to a specific topic. 

There is even an organization, the Universal Ship Cancellation Society, dedicated to collecting cancellations and covers related to ships and submarines.

The USS TRIGGER (SS 564) has many commemorating such events as the launching, commissioning, decommissioning, and recycling. The boat also had, at several times, a rubber stamp that was applied to personal mail leaving through the ship's office.

Examples of both are featured here. This is the current Cold War Boats SS 564 cover collection. If you have others that you would like to share with your shipmates, please contact your Site Lead or the Lead Admin.

 
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