ABERCROMBIE DE 343

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 ABERCROMBIE DE-343
Commissioned May 1 1944 - Decommissioned June 15 1946

Struck from Naval Register May 1 1967
Sunk as target January 7 1968 off California

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.

Covers Page 1 (DATE RANGE)

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

Post Office Established May 8 1944 - Disestablished August 14 1946

Locy Type
2z

1946-03-29

Note:

Other Information

ABERCROMBIE earned 4 Battle Stars (WWII)

NAMESAKE - Named in Honor of Ensign William Warner "Abbie" Abercrombie USNR (July 24 1914 - June 4 1942)
Abercrombie enlisted in the Naval Reserve as a Seaman 2d class on August 27 1940. After undergoing elimination flight training at the Naval Reserve Aviation Base, Kansas City, he received an honorable discharge the day before Christmas, 1940, to accept an appointment as an Aviation Cadet, USNR, on December 27. Three days later, the fledgling flyer arrived at the Naval Air Station (NAS), Pensacola, to begin his formal flight training.
Abercrombie underwent further instruction at NAS, Miami, before he won his wings on July 10 1941. After receiving his Ensign's stripe on August 4 1941, he arrived at NAS, Norfolk, for temporary duty. There he joined Torpedo Squadron (VT) 8, established at NAS, Norfolk, on September 2 1941. Comprising part of the air group of the aircraft carrier USS HORNET CV-8 VT-8 trained under its veteran commanding officer Lt. Comdr John C. Waldron. The squadron remained as one unit until February 1942, two months after the Japanese attack on the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, when it was divided into two groups, one that remained ship-based under Waldron, one that traveled to the Grumman aircraft plant on Long Island to take delivery of new aircraft. Abercrombie remained with the former. "Torpedo 8" operated from HORNET as the ship sailed from the Atlantic to the Pacific, via the Panama Canal, from February to March, during the westward voyage toward the Japanese homeland occasioned by the Halsey-Doolittle mission. Later that spring, VT-8 voyaged with the ship as she proceeded toward the South Pacific in company with near-sister USS ENTERPRISE CV-6. Late in May 1942 American cryptanalysts had pinpointed Japanese intentions on Midway. HORNET and ENTERPRISE, together with their screening ships, proceeded toward that key atoll, joined later by USS YORKTOWN CV-5 and her screen.
On the morning of June 4 1942, Waldron led 15 TBD-1's, one piloted by Abercrombie, from HORNET's flight deck. He located the Japanese carrier force and although he knew full well that the planes had used up enough fuel to prevent their safe return to the ship, led them in on their torpedo runs. "Torpedo 8" pressed home a desperate and gallant attack in the face of "Zero fighters and heavy antiaircraft fire" but suffered grievously. All 15 planes were shot down. Of the thirty men manning them, only Ens. George H. Gay, Jr., USNR survived. For his part in the gallant attack, Ens. Abercrombie received The Navy Cross, and a share of VT-8's Presidential Unit Citation, posthumously.

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