USCG LORAN Long Range Navigation and Comm Station patches

[BeansEnHay]

[Salvage Sailor]

On 2/23/2018 at 3:36 AM, condor said:

USCG Lorsta Sattahip Thailand Railroaders. These patches were during and after the war in the same shops so it is almost impossible to tell the wartime ones from the later unless you get it from the person that was there. I didn't get this from a vet.

 

Aloha Condor,

 

Here's my USCG LORSTA Sattahip, Thailand

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

2 hours ago, BeansEnHay said:

Here are a few: 

This place was a “rock” in the Pacific. A lot of LORAN “A” towers went up as the Americans retook islands including Saipan and Iwo Jima during WW2. Since all they had prior to the war besides visuals were radio beacons, LORAN saved many a pilot and sailor. Eventually they improved it to LORAN “C”.  GPS came next and mostly put LORAN out of business.

This was restricted and often very isolated duty. The people who served here usually were there for 1 year. Crews past their off duty hours watching movies and tapes of U.S. television from the Navy motion picture service, playing cards, reading, hiking, beach combing, spending an overnight pass in town (if there was a town).  There were usually a few “morale” dogs on site to keep them company . There might even be a baseball diamond or archery equipment, and of course a beer mess. A log flight by Air Force cargo plane once a month kept them supplied. 
This one below was at the American end of the Aleutian Islands. You had to cross the 180th meridian to get there. There were a lot of Electronic Technicians or ETs at these stations for the telemetry, Machinery Techs to care for the generators and auxiliary equipment, a Cook, a Corpsman, maybe one Damage Controlman  and Seaman and Fireman “non rates” to assist. They usually had a Lt.jg Officer in Charge and a Warrant as XO.

Loran Station Hokkaido was on the east coast of this large Japanese home island. The men assigned there were the last U.S. personnel on the island. It was near a small fishing village called Tokachibuto, and around 10 miles from a decent sized town. It operated from 1963 to around 1994.

 

Nice additions to the topic, thanks for adding these

Aloha

 

[BeansEnHay]

Mahalo,

I wanted to add one that you included in your original post. Never visited French Frigate Shoals, but heard from an old ET Senior Chief who did, the place was known as “CV-1” being the Coast Guards only aircraft carrier. It was a coral atoll way out in the Pacific. You can see from the photo, there are a couple of strips of beach. One can only imagine the short timer’s calendars festooning the walls of the barracks and the joy that followed when the log flight appeared in the sky. Of course if you wanted to be alone, this would be a kind of paradise.

I know for certain each of these stations usually had a small closet known as the ship’s store. They would have patches, pins, coffee cups, and you might even be able to order a tour jacket from. One place the patches  came from that I got to see was Songtan City, S.Korea. They had little mom and papasan embroidery -sewing businesses that could reproduce whatever you had, and fast - wouldnt be surprised if they’re still there. Thanks again for the comment.

[Salvage Sailor]

On 3/24/2018 at 8:55 AM, Salvage Sailor said:

USCG LORAN STATION YAP ISLAND, PALAUS - In service 1964 to 1987 http://www.loran-history.info/yap/Yap.htm

 

 

 

Another version of the Yap Palaus patch

 

USCG LORAN STATION YAP ISLAND, PALAUS - In service 1964 to 1987

 

 

[mbec]

Here is one I picked up in a junk shop in Boston a little over a year ago.

mark

[Salvage Sailor]

USCG LORAN St. Paul Island, Alaska

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

USCG LORAN Sitkinak Island, Alaska

 

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

USCG LORMONSTA Kodiak Alaska

 

 

 

[Salvage Sailor]

USCG LORSTA SELLIA MARINA, ITALY, MEDSEA CHAIN

MASTERS OF THE MED

 

LORSTA SELLIA MARINA 1959-1994