KULA GULF AKV 8

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.

Commencement Bay Class Escort Carrier Authorized as VERMILLION BAY Renamed November 6 1943 Keel Laid December 16 1943 - Launched August 15 1944 USS KULA GULF CVE-108 Commissioned May 12 1945 - Decommissioned July 3 1946 Recommissioned February 15 1951 - Decommissioned December 15 1955 Redesignated Aircraft Ferry AKV-8 May 7 1959, While in reserve Transferred to Military Sea Transportation Service June 30 1965 USNS KULA GULF T-AKV-8 Placed In Service June 30 1965 - Out of Service October 6 1969 Struck from Naval Register September 15 1970 Sold 1971 for scrap

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. Kula Gulf Covers Page 1     (1946)

 

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	Date From to Date To	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

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1st Commissioning May 12 1945 to July 3 1946

 

Locy Type 2(n)

1946-02-10

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2nd Commissioning February 15 1951 to December 15 1955

 

Locy Type 2 USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. K-11

1951-03-20

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Locy Type 2 USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. K-11a

1954-08-15

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Locy Type 9efu

1951-03-20

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Other Information

NAMESAKE - The night naval battle of July 6 1943 between an American cruiser-destroyer task group under Rear Admiral W. L. Ainsworth, and a powerful Japanese destroyer force in a 5-mile wide gulf between Kolobangara and New Georgia, Solomon Islands. The task group sank one enemy destroyer and drove a second ashore, while Japanese torpedoes sank the Light Cruiser USS HELENA CL-50

 

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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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