HELENA CL 50

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.

St. Louis Class Light Cruiser Keel Laid 9 December 1936 - Launched 27 August 1938 USS HELENA CL-50 Commissioned 18 September 1939 SUNK by Torpedoes during the Battle of Kula Gulf 6 July 1943 168 of her crew were lost with the ship and remain on duty. Located in March 2018, resting at 2821 feet below the surface in the New Georgia Sound         off the coast of the Solomon Islands by the Research Vessel Petrel.

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 Helena CL-50 Covers Page 1    (1939-1943)

 

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 FDC 3r (AC-BBT) "BROOKLYN / N.Y."

1939-09-18

Commissioning, cachet by George Neumann, sponsored by Frederick Horton.

 

Locy Type FDC 3r (AC-BBT) (No Killer Bar text)

1939-09-18

Commissioning. Cachet by George V. Sadworth, sponsored by the USS Brooklyn Crew No. 13, ANCS. From the John Young collection.
 

Locy Type 3r (AC-BBT)

1941-06-06

Cachet by George V. Sadworth, sponsored by Wayne M. Garrett.

 

Locy Type 3r (A-BTT)

1941-08-18

Notes:

 

Locy Type 3z (BTB)

1942-05-01

Note:

 

Locy Type F "U.S.S. / HELENA" USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. H-23a

1940-09-18

1st commissioning anniversary fancy strike. Cachet by John C. Von Losberg

 

Locy Type F "U.S.S. / HELENA" USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. H-23b

1940-09-18

1st commissioning anniversary fancy strike. Cachet by John C. Von Losberg. From the John Young collection.

 

Locy Type F "FIRST ANNIV. / USS HELENA" USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. H-23c

1940-09-18

1st commissioning anniversary fancy strike. Cachet by John C. Von Losberg. From the John Young collection.
 

Locy Type FAKE USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. CD-3

1941-08-27

Cachet by Sibley's Dept. Store (Hobby Shop)

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Ship's Marking

1940-01-27

Shakedown Cruise Marking. Cachet by John C. Von Losberg. From the John Young collection.

 

Other Information

USS HELENA earned the Combat Action Ribbon, the Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon, the American Defense Service Medal w/ Fleet Clasp, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal w/ 7 Battle stars and the World War II Victory Medal during her Naval career.

USS HELENA was at Pearl Harbor December 7 1941 at The Pearl Harbor Navy Yard

NAMESAKE - Named for the city of Helena, Montana

Five ships of the US Navy have borne the name HELENA - USS Helena PG-9, USS Helena CL-50, USS Helena CL-113 (Cancelled while under construction 1944), USS Helena CA-75 and USS Helena SSN-725

The ships sponsor was Miss Elinor Gudger.

 

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