Navy and Pirates

NAV 119

Original plans to build the Italian aircraft carrier R.N. Aquila. Dated September 1942, this is copy #16. It is marked SECRETO as well as NE E’ VIETATA LA DIVULGAZIONE (It is forbidden to divulge). Interestingly all fascist symbols have been stricken out with a red pencil. $1000

Price: $1000.00

NOTE: Aquila (Italian for "Eagle") was an Italian aircraft carrier converted from the transatlantic passenger liner SS Roma. During World War II, Work on Aquila began in late 1941 at the Ansaldo shipyard in Genoa and continued for the next two years. With the signing of the Italian armistice on 8 September 1943, however, all work was halted and the vessel remained unfinished. She was captured by the National Republican Navy of the Italian Social Republic and the German occupation forces in 1943, but in 1945 she was partially sunk by a commando attack of Mariassalto, an Italian royalist assault unit of the Co-Belligerent Navy of the Kingdom of Italy, made up by members of the former Decima Flottiglia MAS. Aquila was eventually refloated and scrapped in 1952.

NAV 118NAV 118

13 period postcards from the Russo-Japanese War.

Price: $700.00

NAV 106

Photo album belonging to a sailor aboard the aircraft carrier USS Valley Forge, early post war/Korean War. 79 photos, with many on shore leave at Yokosuka, Japan. Much fraternizing with the local women. Numerous photos of the ship. No captions.

Price: $500.00

Note from Wikipedia: USS Valley Forge (CV/CVA/CVS-45, LPH-8) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during and shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. The ship was the first US Navy ship to bear the name. Valley Forge was commissioned in November 1946, too late to serve in World War II, but saw extensive service in the Korean War and the Vietnam War. She was reclassified in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), then to an antisubmarine carrier (CVS), and finally to an amphibious assault ship (LPH), carrying helicopters and Marines. As a CVS she served in the Atlantic and Caribbean. She was the prime recovery vessel for an early uncrewed Mercury space mission. After conversion to an LPH she served extensively in the Vietnam War. Valley Forge was awarded eight battle stars for Korean War service and nine for Vietnam War service, as well as three Navy Unit Commendations. Although she was extensively modified internally as part of her conversion to an amphibious assault ship, external modifications were minor, so throughout her career Valley Forge retained the classic appearance of a World War II Essex-class ship. She was decommissioned in 1970, and sold for scrap in 1971.

NAV 101

10 World War 1 Italian navy patriotic fantasy postcards.

Price: $400.00

NAV 097

4 World War 1 French naval humor postcards.

Price: $120.00

NAV 096

4 World War 1 and 2 French naval fantasy postcards.

Price: $120.00

NAV 093

8 French humor postcards, series Amities de Toulon, published 1916-1917.

Price: $320.00

NAV 092

3 1919-1920 French navy humor postcards illustrated by Mario Pazilla.

Price: $120.00

NAV 088

1927 tribute album from the Compagnia Italiana Transatlantica for the 1927 pilgrimage to Mecca. At the time, the fleet consisted of 21 steamers and picked up passengers from North Africa and the east coast of Africa bound for Mecca. The album is written in Italian and Arabic.

Price: $800.00

Note from Wikipedia: Transatlantica Italiana S.A. di Navigazione was acquired by Hamburg America Line when they purchased Ligure Brasiliana in 1913, but was registered under the Italian flag. In 1914 the name was changed to Transatlantica Italiana (CITRA) and in 1915, following the entry of Italy into the Great War, an Italian board of directors was formed and all German held shares were purchased. In 1932 the Citra merged with the Tirrenia - Flotte Riunite Florio – Citra.

NAV 067

Rare pass granted to board a ship for a civilian during German occupation. B

Price: $180.00