KRETCHMER DER 329

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 KRETCHMER DE-329
Commissioned December 13 1943 - Decommissioned September 20 1946
USCGC KRETCHMER WDE-429
Loaned to U.S. Coast Guard and Recommissioned June 20 1951
Returned to U.S. Navy and Decommissioned August 12 1954
Reclassified Radar Picket Escort (DER) October 21 1955
USS KRETCHMER DER-329
Recommissioned September 22 1956 - Decommissioned October 1 1973

Stricken September 30 1973
Sold May 14 1974 for scrap

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.

Kretchmer Covers Page 1 (1956-73)

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

2nd Commissioning September 22 1956 to October 1 1973

Locy Type
2(n+) (USS)

1964-07-21
to
1964-07-21

As DER-329

Locy Type
2t(n+u)

1962-03-22

As DER-329

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

1973-07-10

As DER-329
Ship's cachet.

Locy Type
9fu

1962-03-22

As DER-329
Marking from back of cover

Other Information

NAMESAKE - Named in Honor of Ensign Raymond Joseph Kretchmer, USNR (1917 - August 9 1942).
Ensign Kretchmer was killed in action August 9 1942 when USS ASTORIA CA-34 was sunk by Japanese naval forces during the Battle of Savo Island.

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.