Operation Deep Freeze

I used to collect all the "Operation Deep Freeze" cancels offered by the USPS. Here are 2 from NEW YORK that took away the "Operation Deep Freeze" cancel and substituted this one. These covers were prepared by me so some older stamps were used. If any interest I can post a few of the original DEEP FREEZE cancels.....

Neat cancels.

What was Operation Deep Freeze? I would like to see more please!

What does the BR. in the ' SO.POLE BR.NEW YORK, NY ' cancel mean?

Operation Deep Freeze is the United States explorations and operations in Antarctica. Deep Freeze was the original name applied to the explorations and now has become a generic term for the US presence in Antarctic. Philatelic covers have been available from the early explorations. The BR. in the cancel stands for Branch. The US post office at the South Pole operated as a branch of the New York post office.

Thank you, good info.

I am slowly liking and acquiring Canadian Northern envelopes and cancels and stamps.

I also would like to see more.
Kirk

Here is a cover sent back from the first expedition to climb Antarctica's highest mountain, the Vinson Massif, in 1966-7:

So from down under, they have to post the stamp upside down to get it back to the NH?

Considering how often I see these covers in bargain boxes, I would have thought I'd find more posts about them on the forum. Here are a couple from my collection. Does anyone have some others they can share?

Operation Deep Freeze is, as far as I know, still ongoing with the U.S. Navy. It's the name of the tour where you spend 6-9 months in Antarctica at McMurdo Station.

I tried several times to get stationed there when I was in the Navy. First time I was too junior, then there were others ahead of me and finally I became too senior for the billet. Oh, well....

Here's one with a slogan cancel...

Nice! Thanks for sharing!

All of the machine cancels shown so far are from International Model HD-2 machines. These are small, table-top, hand-driven machines.

Three different station dials from the 1950s:


Front and back of identical Leap Day 1960 covers:


"Furnace trouble" auxiliary marking from 1972. I thought I had posted this before and gotten an answer with reference to a journal article, but could not find the thread.

Great post, John! I'm surprised there were three different postal stations -- or are those all really just McMurdo PO under different names?

They issued a hardcover book about Operation Deep Freeze in the late 1950s- early 1960s with the same castle design on it. The beer can is the ONLY time Disney had their art on a beer can. This is the more common variety of the flat top Bavarian beer, circa 1958 or so.

The predecessor to Deep Freeze was Post WWII Operation High Jump 1946-47. In 1946. Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal appointed Byrd as officer in charge of The Antarctic Developments Project. In essence Byrd's fourth Expedition. This Effort was supported by a large Naval Force (Task Force 68) . Organized by Byrd and commanded by RA Richard H. Cruzen. This compliment consisted of the following, Command ship USS Mount Olympus, thirteen US Navy support ships ,the Air Craft Carrier USS Philippine Sea,six helicopters,six flying boats,two seaplane tender and fifteen other aircraft with a total of 4000 personnel. The initial armada arrived on December 31,1946.

High Jump's objectives according to the U.S. Navy,

Training personnel and testing equipment in frigid conditions

Consolidating and extending the United States' sovereignty over the largest practicable area of the Antarctic continent (publicly denied as a goal even before the expedition ended).

Determining the feasibility of establishing, maintaining, and utilizing bases in the Antarctic and investigating possible base site.

Developing techniques for establishing, maintaining, and utilizing air bases on ice, with particular attention to later applicability of such techniques to operations in interior Greenland, where conditions are comparable to those in the Antarctic.

Amplifying existing stores of knowledge of electromagnetic, geological, geographic, hydro graphic, and meteorological propagation conditions in the area.

Supplementary objectives of the Nanook expedition (a smaller equivalent conducted off eastern Greenland).

Now the 2 covers displayed are from the command ship Mount Olympus canceled on the 10th of January 1947 ? She reached the Bay of Whales, New Zealand on 16 January 1947 and was recalled shortly after on 11 Feb 1947 to become the flagship of Amphibious Group 2.

There are other web sites that go into greater detail on the subject so check them out if interested. Enjoy

Operation Deep Freeze begins and the continuing and constant US presence in Antarctic begins. Here are 2 covers with different machine cancels , do not know the origin ( bases these where processed at) but they are consistent over the years. I will post some of the support ship canceled covers in my possession. Enjoy