BERING STRAIT WHEC 382

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.

Barnegat Class Small Seaplane Tender Keel Laid 7 June 1943 - Launched & Christened 15 January 1944 USS BERING STRAIT AVP-34 Commissioned 19 July 1944 - Decommissioned 21 June 1946 Transferred on loan to U.S. Coast Guard 14 September 1948 USCGC BERING STRAIT WAVP-382 Commissioned 14 September 1948 USCGC BERING STRAIT WHEC-382 Redesignated High Endurance Cutter (WHEC) 1 May 1966 Decommissioned February 1970 Struck from Naval Register 1 January 1971 RVNS TRAN QUANG KHIA HQ-2 (South Vietnamese Naval Service) Transferred to South Vietnam 1 January 1971 Custody assumed by The Republic of the Philippines Sold outright to The Republic of the Philippines 5 April 1976 BRP DIEGO SILANG PF-9 (Philippine Naval Service) Commissioned 5 April 1976 - Decommissioned June 1985 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. USS/USCGC Bering Strait AVP-34/WHEC-382 Covers Page 1     (1945-46)

 

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

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US Naval Service - AVP-34

 

Locy Type 2z

1945-03-09

AVP-34. Official Business.

 

Locy Type 9efu (with bars from Type 2)

1945-12-22

AVP-34. Cachet by M. Fay Muridge, sponsored by the John Paul Jones Chapter No. 2, USCS

 

Locy Type LDPS 9efu (with bars from Type 2)

1946-01-23

AVP-34. Last Day of Postal Service. Cachet by Louis S. Pentel

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US Coast Guard Service - WHEC-382

 

Locy Type 2

1970-10-25

N/A

WHEC-382. No postal facilities. Contributed by Tom Kean.

 

Other Information

BERING STRAIT earned the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ three Battle stars, the World War II Victory Medal, the Navy Occupation Service Medal w/ Asia clasp, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal w/ 1 silver Battle star, the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation Ribbon (5 awards) and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal during her US Naval/Coast Guard career.

NAMESAKE - The strait connecting the Arctic Ocean and the Bering Sea and separating Russian Asia from North America. The Danish explorer for whom it was named, Vitus Bering, made the first transit of the strait in 1728.

The ships sponsor was Mrs. George F. Cornwall.

 

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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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