FORSTER DER 334

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.

Edsall Class Destroyer Escort Keel Laid 31 August 1943 - Launched and Christened 13 November 1943 USS FORSTER DE-334 Commissioned 25 January 1944 - Decommissioned 15 June 1946 USCGC FORSTER WDE-434 Loaned to USCG and Recommissioned 29 June 1951 Returned to U.S. Navy custody and Decommissioned 25 May 1954 USS FORSTER DER-334 Reclassified Radar Picket Escort (DER) 21 October 1955 Recommissioned 23 October 1956 - Decommissioned 25 September 1971 Stricken 25 September 1971 TRAN KHANH DU HQ-04 Loaned 25 September 1971 to South Vietnam and renamed TRAN KHANH DU FFR-1 Redesignated 1 April 1972 Captured 29 April 1975 by North Vietnamese after the fall of Saigon DAI KY HQ-03 Written off as "transferred to Vietnam" and renamed 30 April 1975 In use as a training ship since 1993 Operational as of 1997

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 Forster DER-334 Covers Page 1     (1944,1969-70)

 

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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1st Commissioning 25 January 1944 - 15 June 1946

 

Locy Type 2z

1944-10-19

DE-334. Election War Ballot.

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3rd Commissioning 23 October 1956 - 25 September 1971

 

Locy Type 2t(n+u) (DER)

1970-02-25

DER-334. Cachet by Frederick L. Karcher. FRAUDULENT use of the "FREE" mail privilege.

 

Locy Type 9fu

1956-11-07

DER-334. From the Bob Govern collection.

 

Other Information

USS FORSTER earned the Combat Action Ribbon, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the European-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal (w/ 1 Battle star), the World War II Victory Medal, the Navy Occupation Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal (w/ 1 star), the Antarctica Service Ribbon, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (w/ 1 star), the Vietnam Service Medal (w/ 7 Campaign stars), the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross (palm) Unit Citation Ribbon (w/ 4 stars) and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal during her US Naval career.

NAMESAKE - "Edward William Forster, born 8 October 1884 in Jersey City, N.J., enlisted in the Navy 25 August 1919, and was warranted Machinist 25 June 1942. On 17 August 1940, he joined USS Vincennes CA-44, and in her served gallantly until she was sunk in the Battle of Savo Island, 9 August 1942. Machinist Forster lost his life in this action." {DANFS}

 

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