THOMAS DE 102
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.
Keel Laid January 16 1943 - Launched July 31 1943 Struck from Naval Register December 22 1948 Escaped to Taiwan with Nationalistist forces 1949 Stricken by Taiwan 1972 and scrapped |
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.
- Covers Page 1 (1944-46)
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.
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Postmark Type |
Date From to Date To |
Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image |
Thumbnail Link To Cover Image |
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Locy Type |
1946-01-07 |
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Note:
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Locy Type |
1944-06-06 |
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Note:
Other Information
THOMAS received 4 battle stars for World War II service
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons...
Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive) - American Campaign Medal - European-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal w/ 4 stars - World War II Victory Medal
NAMESAKE - Clarence Crase Thomas (December 26 1886 - April 28 1917)
Thomas was appointed Midshipman on July 7 1904 and graduated from the United States Naval Academy on June 5 1908. After service in Armored Cruiser USS MARYLAND ACR-8 and Gunboat USS YORKTOWN PG-1, he was commissioned Ensign on June 29 1910. In the next few years, Thomas served in Cruisers USS DENVER, USS CLEVELAND, and USS WEST VIRGINIA. Appointed Lieutenant (jg.) on June 26 1913, he was detached from WEST VIRGINIA in the summer of 1914 to attend a post-graduate course in steam engineering at the Naval Academy. He attended Columbia University in late 1915 and, on June 24 1916, reported on board Battleship USS FLORIDA BB-30 as her electrical officer. Thomas was commissioned Lieutenant on January 8 1917 and, about a fortnight after the United States entered World War I, was placed in charge of the naval armed guard on the merchant steamship SS VACUUM in April. On the 28th, when a lookout reported sighting a German submarine, some 120 miles west of the Hebrides Islands, Lt. Thomas went to the ship's after gun. A few moments later, a torpedo from U-21 struck VACUUM, and exploded, throwing Thomas and the gun's crew into the water. The ship sank within two minutes. Picked up by a boat, Thomas soon died of cold and exposure. He was the first United States naval officer to lose his life in the war with Germany and was posthumously awarded The Navy Cross "for distinguished service in the line of his profession as commander of the armed guard crew of the . . . VACUUM
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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