CROATAN T-AKV 43

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.

Bogue Class Escort Carrier
Keel Laid 15 April 1942 - Acquired by US Navy 1 May 1942
Launched 1 August 1942 as Aircraft Escort Vessel (AVG)
Reclassified Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier (ACV) 20 August 1942


1. USS CROATAN ACV-25
   Commissioned 28 April 1943
   
   
2. USS CROATAN CVE-25
   Reclassified Escort Carrier (CVE) 15 July 1943
   Decommissioned 20 May 1946
   
   
3. USS CROATAN CVHE-25
   Reclassified Escort Helicopter Aircraft Carrier (CVHE) 12 June 1955 while in reserve
   Transferred to Military Sea Transport Service
   
   
4. USNS CROATAN
   Placed In Service as Aircraft Transport 16 June 1958
   
   
5. USNS CROATAN T-CVU-25
   Reclassified Utility Aircraft Carrier (T-CVU) 1 July 1958
   
   
6. USNS CROATAN T-AKV-43
   Reclassified Cargo Ship and Aircraft Ferry (T-AKV-43) 7 May 1959
   Served as Experimental Ship under NASA control, October 1964 - May 1965
   Resumed MSTS transport duties
   Placed Out of Service 23 October 1969
   
   Struck from Naval Register 22 June 1971
   Sold 1971 and scrapped

 

Naval Covers

This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each incarnation of the ship (ie, for each entry in the "Ship Name and Designation History" section). 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.

1. USS Croatan CVE-43 Covers Page 1     (1943-1946)

 

Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each incarnation of the ship (ie, for each entry in the "Ship Name and Designation History" section). 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.

 

Postmark Type --- Killer Bar Text	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

 

Locy Type 2(n) (Oct 27, 1945)

1945-10-27

CVE-25. Navy Day 1945. Cachet by M. Fay Muridge, sponsored by the John Paul Jones Chapter No. 2, USCS. From the Tom Kean collection.

 

Locy Type 2(n)

1946-02-25

CVE-25

 

Locy Type 2z*

1943-08-29

CVE-25

 

Locy Type 9efu

1943-08-29

CVE-25. Postmark from the back of the cover.

 

Other Information

USS CROATAN earned the American Campaign Medal w/ 1 star, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal w/ 1 Battle star and the World War II Victory Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - A sound off the North Carolina coast.

Two ships of the US Navy have borne the name CROATAN - USS Croatan CVE-14 and USS Croatan CVE-25.

The ships sponsor was Mrs. J. S. Russell.

 

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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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