HEATHER WLB 331

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.

Chimo Class Auxiliary Minelayer Keel Laid 1941 for the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps, Mine Planter Service          as USAMP 1st Lieutenant William G. Sylvester MP-5 Launched in 1942 Transferred to the Navy 4 January 1945 and converted to an Auxiliary Minelayer USS OBSTRUCTOR ACM-7 Commissioned 1 April 1945 - Decommissioned 28 June 1946 Transferred to the Coast Guard 28 June 1946 Struck from the Naval Register 19 July 1946 USCGC HEATHER WAGL-331 Commissioned 1 February 1947 USCGC HEATHER WLB-331 Reclassified (WLB) 1965 - Decommissioned 15 December 1967 Transferred to Seattle, WA 12 April 1968 Fate unknown.

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 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.

1. USCGC Heather WLB-331 Covers Page 1     (DATE RANGE)

 

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.

 

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

 

Locy Type 2z

(1946)-03-08

The ship had no postal facilities. The note from the mail clerk was slipped inside the cover. Both the written and printed return addresses misspelled the ship's name.

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USPO Machine Cancel San Pedro CA

1962-06-08

N/A

WAGL-331. From the John Young collection.

 

Other Information

NAMESAKE - 1st Lt. William G. Sylvester, USA (b. - 7 December 1941)
1stLt. Sylvester was the first coast artillery officer killed in action in World War II. He was stationed at Hickam Field, Hawaii, on 7 December 1941.

NAMESAKE - An agent blocking, clogging or impeding.

NAMESAKE - Calluna vulgaris (known as common heather, ling, or simply heather) is the sole species in the genus Calluna in the flowering plant family Ericaceae.

Two cutters of the US Coast Guard have borne the name HEATHER - USLHS Heather (1903) and USCGC Heather WLB-331.

 

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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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