Missile Mail

The Mayport Experiment: Guided Missiles for Mail delivery?
by
Alec Newell 

 

  

USS Barbero, firing a guided missile at Mayport

I recently stumbled across a little known chapter in local Beaches history when someone forwarded me an e-Bay ad for a postal envelope with a special cancellation mark commemorating the use of a guided missile to deliver mail to Naval Station Mayport.  In the 1959 Cold War era of the Eisenhower Administration, you could buy Air Mail stamps that, for a few extra cents, would guarantee your letter would travel "Via Air" and shave a day or two off its standard delivery time.  But using guided missiles from U.S. warships to deliver mail?  It sounds more like science fiction ripped from the pages of a Buck Rogers comic book than a serious concept in mail delivery.



Ike receiving Missile Mail from the USPS

Among stamp collectors there is a sub group group of who specialize in "covers."  They collect whole envelopes because the dated postmarks on them can often be more valuable than the stamp itself.  In November of 2010, the postal cover and letter pictured  below were offered for sale on e-Bay, with a minimum starting bid of US $2000.





The U.S. Postal Service's first, and only, experiment with "Missile Mail" occurred June 8, 1959, off the Atlantic Coast of North Florida, near Naval Station Mayport.  A special payload of V.I.P. mail, intended mostly for government officials, was loaded aboard a Regulus I missile and put to sea aboard the USS Barbero (SSG-317).  The Barbero was a refitted submarine that had seen combat service during World War II.  The missile was launched at sea, and recovered at what was then called the Mayport Naval Auxiliary Air Station. The mail was then driven to the Post Office in Jacksonville, for sorting and routing.  The official first class postage rate then, was 4 cents for domestic, and 8 cents for foreign deliveries.

Post card offered on e-Bay Feb. 2014, for minimum bid US $18.99

 



back side of the post card, note illustration (left)



 





Guided missile with postal payload at Mayport

The 3000 letters had received their historic postmarks before being loaded aboard the Barbero.  The missile was launched from international waters approximately 100 miles off shore, manually guided by the crew from on board the submarine, and followed by a couple of chase planes to the landing strip at Mayport.  It was met by an entourage of military and civilian dignitaries.  Among them was Postmaster General Allen E. Summerfield, who was on hand to personally remove the mail boxes from a compartment originally designed to carry a nuclear warhead.



U.S. Postmaster General Allen E. Summerfield, unloading Missile Mail

The letters were sent out to Heads of State, and Postmasters General all over the world, to generate a Cold War buzz about our ability to launch nuclear capable missiles from submarines, anywhere on the planet.  The letter addressed to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institute remains in the National Postal Museum's collections.  The rest have become valuable prizes for collectors.