VANCE DER 387

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 VANCE DE-387
Commissioned November 1 1943 - Decommissioned February 27 1946
Loaned to U.S. Coast Guard
USCGC VANCE WDE-487
Recommissioned May 15 1952 - Decommissioned June 16 1954
Returned to U.S. Navy custody June 16 1954
Reclassified Radar Picket Escort (DER) October 21 1955
USS VANCE DER-387
Recommissioned October 5 1956 - Decommissioned October 10 1969

Stricken June 1 1975
Sunk as target 1985

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.

Vance Covers Page 1 (1945-67)

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

1st Commissioning November 1 1943 to February 27 1946

Locy Type
2z

1945-06-14

As DE-387

2nd Commissioning October 5 1956 to October 10 1969

Locy Type
2t(n+u)

1956-12-18
to
1956-12-18

As DER-387

Locy Type
2t(n+u)

1967-09-29
to
1967-09-29

As DER-387

Other Information

VANCE received seven battle stars for her service in Vietnam.

NAMESAKE - Lt. (jg.) Joseph Williams Vance, Jr., USN.
Ensign Vance was awarded the Bronze Star for his actions during the Battle of Makassar Strait (January 24 1942) as the torpedo officer aboard USS PARROTT DD-218. Promoted to Lieutenant (junior grade) on June 15 1942, Lt. (jg) Vance was killed in action on August 8 1942, while serving as the liaison officer with the Australian Navy aboard HMAS CANBERRA, south 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.