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.

USS FORSTER DE 334
Commissioned January 25 1944 - Decommissioned June 15 1946
USCGC FORSTER WDE 434
Loaned to USCG and Recommissioned June 29 1951
Returned to U.S. Navy custody and Decommissioned May 25 1954
USS FORSTER DER 334
Reclassified Radar Picket Escort (DER) October 21 1955
Recommissioned October 23 1956 - Decommissioned September 25 1971

Stricken September 25 1971
TRAN KHANH DU HQ 04 (South Vietnamese Naval Service)
Loaned September 25 1971 to South Vietnam and renamed
TRAN KHANH DU FFR-1
Redesignated April 1 1972
Captured April 29 1975 by North Vietnamese after the fall of Saigon
DAI KY HQ 03 (North Vietnamese Naval Service)
Written off as "transferred to Vietnam" and renamed April 30 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.

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

1st Commissioning January 25 1944 - June 15 1946

Locy Type 2z

1944-10-19

DE-334. Election War Ballot.

Locy Type 2z

1944-10-19

DE-334. Election War Ballot (backside).

3rd Commissioning October 23 1956 - September 25 1971

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

1970-02-25

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

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}

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.