WHITMAN DE 24
Ship Name and Designation History
This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.
Ordered by Great Britain as BDE-24 Retained by U.S. Navy January 7 1943 Keel Laid September 7 1942 - Launched January 19 1943 |
This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each name of the ship (for example, Bushnell AG-32 / Sumner AGS-5 are different names for the same ship so there should be one set of pages for Bushnell and one set for Sumner). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).
Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.
- Covers Page 1 (1944-45)
Postmarks
This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each name and/or commissioning period. Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.
A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an
image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN
THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the
existing example.
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Postmark Type |
Postmark Date |
Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image |
Thumbnail Link To Cover Image |
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Post Office Established July 8 1943 - Disestablished October 31 1945
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Locy Type |
1944-06-08 |
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 |
Censored wartime (WWII) use
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Locy Type |
1945-03-27 |
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Censored wartime (WWII) use
Other Information
WHITMAN earned four battle stars for her World War II service
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons...
Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive) - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ 4 stars - WWII Victory Medal
NAMESAKE - Robert Scott Whitman, Jr USN (January 1 1916 - June 4 1942)
Whitman was appointed a Midshipman on August 24 1935. He graduated from the Naval Academy with the Class of 1939. After sea duty Whitman underwent heavier-than-air instruction at the Naval Air Station at Pensacola, Fla. He won his wings there and then received further instruction at the Transition Training Squadron, Pacific Fleet, before he reported to Patrol Squadron (VP) 44 on November 4 1941. He remained with VP-44 into the spring and early summer of 1942. With the reinforcement of Midway Atoll in the face of an impending Japanese thrust, VP-44 was dispatched to that key island base. During the first few days of June 1942, the PBY's based at Midway flew long patrols over the trackless ocean, searching for signs of enemy shipping. On June 3 came the first surface contact. One of the searchers on patrol that morning. Whitman's plane was the third to spot the enemy ships and at 0925 radioed a report calling attention to the "main body." After sending back a second message amplifying the data contained in his report of the initial sighting, Whitman brought his plane back to Midway in accordance with instructions. The following day, June 4 1942, at 0715, his PBY-5A Catalina was again airborne; he reported that the aircraft was being "opposed by two enemy observation planes." That proved to be the last word heard from Whitman's aircraft, as the enemy planes shot it down in flames.
If you have images or information to add to this page, then either contact the Curator or edit this page yourself and add it. See Editing Ship Pages for detailed information on editing this page.
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