SCHMITT APD 76

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 SCHMITT DE-676
Commissioned July 23 1943 - Decommissioned January 2 1945
Converted and reclassified High Speed Transport (APD)
USS SCHMITT APD-76
Recommissioned April 3 1945 - Decommissioned June 28 1949

Stricken May 1 1967
ROCS LUNG SHAN PF-44 (Taiwanese Naval Service)
Sold to Taiwan February 18 1969 and renamed

Stricken by Taiwan 1976 and broken up

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.

USS Schmitt DE-676 / APD-76 Covers Page 1 (1943-46)

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

1st Commissioning July 24 1943 to January 2 1945

Locy Type 2z

1944-05-02

As DE-676 - Official Mail

2nd Commissioning April 3 1945 to June 28 1949

Locy Type 2(n)

1946-12-25

As APD-76 - Christmas Day 1946

Locy Type 2(n)

1947-04-09

As APD-76

Other Information

NAMESAKE - Father Aloysius H. Schmitt, ChC, USN (December 4 1909 – December 7 1941)
Fr. Schmitt was a Roman Catholic priest who served as Chaplain in the United States Navy and was killed in Pearl Harbor attack while serving on USS OKLAHOMA BB-37. During the attack numerous Japanese torpedo hits caused the ship to capsize. A number of sailors, including Fr. Schmitt, were trapped in a compartment with only a small porthole as the means of escape. Fr. Schmitt helped a number of men through this porthole. When it came his time to leave, he declined and helped more men to escape. In total, he helped 12 men to escape. Fr. Schmitt was posthumously awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his heroism.
UPDATE - December 2017 The Pentagon has approved an upgrade to an Silver Star for heroism for Fr. Schmitt's actions aboard the USS Oklahoma. His remains were also identified and returned to Dubuque Iowa in October 2016.

USS SCHMITT earned the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with one Battle star, the World War II Victory Medal and the Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp) during her Naval career.

The ships sponsor was Mrs. Elizabeth Buchheit.

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.