Title: 1930 USA USS Saratoga CV-3 Aircraft Carrier Long Beach California RPPC Postcard

This is a used 1930 real photo postcard of the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3), postmarked at Long Beach, California. The white-border format and one-cent Franklin stamp place it firmly in the early 1930s, and the postmark dates the mailing to 23 October 1930.

The front is a head-on bow view of USS Saratoga at anchor or slow in harbor. The flared stem fills the frame, with two large hawse openings, stockless anchors, and a heavy anchor chain hanging down the stem. The flight deck overhangs the hull on both sides, with railings, netting, and deck-edge fittings visible along the bow. Above the deck rises the early island and funnel, with mast, yards, signal halyards, and a row of small flags. A low shoreline with trees and low buildings sits in the haze at the left. White script in the lower left of the photograph reads “H. M. Bryant” and “E. O. Eady. © 2.” The printed caption at lower right reads “U.S.S. SARATOGA”. The print is a warm sepia real-photo image with a wide white border.

The back is a divided post card. Printed wording reads “POST CARD”, “CORRESPONDENCE”, and “ADDRESS”. A green one-cent Benjamin Franklin stamp is tied by a machine cancel, inscribed “UNITED STATES POSTAGE”, “FRANKLIN”, and “1 CENT”. The circular postmark reads “LONG BEACH CALIF”, “OCT 23”, “5:00 PM”, “1930”. In red ink on the correspondence side, written vertically, the message reads “Best wishes from Long Beach Cal”. A further red note along the left edge reads “10-23-30 Long Beach”. The address, also in red ink, reads “Mrs. W. M. Hyman”, “2700-8th Ave”, “Oakland”, “Calif”.

USS Saratoga was laid down in 1920 at Camden, New Jersey, as the battlecruiser CC-3 and completed as an aircraft carrier under the Washington Naval Treaty. Launched on 7 April 1925 and commissioned on 16 November 1927, she was the Navy’s first fast carrier and the sister of USS Lexington (CV-2). Through the 1930s she was based with the Battle Fleet on the California coast, often at San Pedro and Long Beach, which fits this card. She served through the Pacific war, brought home more than 29,000 veterans in Operation Magic Carpet, and was sunk as a target at Bikini Atoll on 25 July 1946. The bow and original island in this view match her pre-war appearance.

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