SELLSTROM DER 255

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 SELLSTROM DE-255
Commissioned October 12 1943 - Decommissioned June 13 1946
Reclassified Radar Picket Escort (DER) October 21 1955
USS SELLSTROM DER-255
Recommissioned October 1 1956 - Decommissioned June 30 1960

Stricken from Naval Register November 1 1965
Sold April 1967 to the Peck Iron & Metalworks, Portsmouth, Va 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 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.

Sellstrom Covers Page 1 (1944-56)

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 October 12 1943 to June 13 1946

Locy Type
2#
Branch 15974

1946-01-31

Note:

2nd Commissioning October 1 1956 to June 30 1960

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

1956-10-24

As DER-255

Other Information

SELLSTROM earned one battle star for World War II service

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons...
Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive) - China Service Medal - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal - European-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal w/ 1 star - World War II Victory Medal

NAMESAKE - Edward Robert Sellstrom USNR (July 19 1916 - June 21 1942)
Sellstrom enlisted in the Naval Reserve as Seaman Second Class at Minneapolis on January 14 1941 and was appointed Aviation Cadet at Pensacola, Fla., on March 20 1941. On September 15 1941, he was commissioned Ensign, USNR. After duty in the Advanced Carrier Training Group, Pacific Fleet, he was assigned to Fighter Squadron 3, on board Carrier USS LEXINGTON CV-2. On February 20 1942, Ensign Sellstrom intercepted an enemy four-engined bomber, determinedly pursued it through clouds and rain, and assisted in shooting it down despite heavy machine gun and cannon fire. Later that day, he intercepted and shot down another aircraft during an attack directed at his carrier by nine enemy bombers. As a result of his "skillful marksmanship and courage," he was awarded the Navy Cross. Ensign Sellstrom was killed in an airplane crash on June 21 1942

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.