A breakfast for the stepson of Amelia Earhart, George Palmer Putnam, Jr. and his wife Marie, was held on the morning of April 5. Pictured above are (left to right) Marie Putnam, Giacinta Bradley Koontz, Roberta Bassin; (seated left to right) George Palmer Putnam, Jr. and John Underwood.
Giacinta Bradley Koontz and Dr. Oleksandr V. Mandel at the dinner hosted by Nassco. Dr. Mandel lives in the Ukraine and was instrumental in naming the ship for Amelia Earhart. For this complete story and more on the construction of the USNS Amelia Earhart click here.
Amelia Earhart’s niece, Amy Kleppner (in the gray suit) was the Sponsor for the launch ceremonies, shown here at the moment the ship was released from the ways.
A welder at the NASSCO shipyard working on the USNS Amelia Earhart. (photo by GBK)
The USNS Amelia Earhart Under Construction
View of the USNS Amelia Earhart from the Sumitomo Crane, Fall 2007. (photo by GBK)
THE USNS AMELIA EARHART
LAUNCHED APRIL 6, 2008
Nassco Shipyard, San Diego, California
These pages are devoted to the memory of Margie Richison who passed away on April 6, 2008. Richison was a long-time member of the International Organization of Women Pilots (99s) for which Amelia Earhart was the first elected President in 1931. Richison was a Certified Flight instructor and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Museum of Women Pilots, where she was involved in all aspects of curation, public relations, and administration. For a Memorial Page with photographs click here.
The Navy has named their new line of cargo ships for American Explorers and Pioneers. The USNS Amelia Earhart was designated T-AKE #6.
Festivities during April 5 and April 6, 2008 in conjunction with the launch included members of the Earhart and Putnam families.
See the feature article in Logbook Magazine (Dec. 07) entitled:
“A New Kind of Ship for Amelia – It Has A Propeller But No Wings”
by Giacinta Bradley Koontz
To view the entire unedited text: click here
The Navy has increased the number of T-AKE ships to 14.
For more on these cargo ships visit the Nassco web site::
www.nassco.com "T-AKE"
The USNS Amelia Earhart in the ways at Nassco, January 2008.
