BAIROKO CVE 115

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 Ordered as PORTAGE BAY Renamed BAIROKO 5 June 1944 Keel Laid 25 July 1944 - Launched 25 January 1945 USS BAIROKO CVE-115 Commissioned 16 July 1945 - Decommissioned 14 April 1950 Recommissioned 12 September 1950 - Decommissioned 18 February 1955 Redesignated Aviation Transport (AKV-15) 7 May 1959 while in reserve Struck from Naval Register 1 April 1960 Scrapped January 1961

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 Bairoko CVE-115 Covers Page     (1945-1951)

 

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

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1st Commissioning 16 July 1945 to 14 April 1950

 

Locy Type 2(n) (27 October 1945)

1945-10-27

Note:

 

Locy Type 2(n)

1947-03-31

Add-on cachet by Bruce D. Liddell

 

Locy Type 2(n)

1947-10-27

Navy Day

 

Locy Type 2# (Br. #16009)

1945-10-26

Sailor's Mail

 

Locy Type 9ef(nu)

1947-05-17

Note:

 

Locy Type 9# (Br. #16009)

1945-11-02

From the Bob Govern collection.

 

Locy Type LDPS 2(n)

1950-01-06

LDPS, Placed in Mothballs, cachet by Tazewell G. Nicholson

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2nd Commissioning 12 September 1950 to 18 February 1955

 

Locy Type 2

1951-08-01

Note:

 

Locy Type 2r

1953-07-27

Korean War Ends

 

Other Information

USS BAIROKO earned the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the Navy Occupation Service Medal (w/ "Asia" clasp), the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Service Medal (w/ 2 battle stars), the United Nations Korean Medal and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - A small harbor on the north coast of New Georgia in the Solomon Islands. In 1942 and 1943, the Japanese used this harbor as the port of supply for Munda airfield itself important for the battles in and around Guadalcanal. American forces captured Bairoko on 25 August 1943, and its seizure marked an important milestone in the southwestern Pacific counter-offensive.

The ships sponsor was Mrs. John J. Ballentine.

 

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