Can anyone tell me what kind of patch this is? WWII Sub hunter?

[BARQS19]

I picked this up today. I bought a few German WWII pieces from an older gentleman today and he included this in with them. He wasn't sure what it was, he just told me one of his friends gave it to him. His friend found it at a garage sale on a leather jacket. Cut the patch off and gave it to him and kept the jacket ( stupid move right) Anyway. I've looked everywhere. Can anyone identifiy this?
Thanks,
BARQS19

 

[D.James]

VS 23
ASW squadron

NAS North Island, San Diego, California
Tail Code: [MI]
Name: Black Cats

patches logos

probably Korean War era, whilst serving aboard USS BairokoCVE-115

 

[BARQS19]

Thank you so much. I still can't find much info about them except the ship was only around for 15 years then scrapped.... why??

 

[D.James]

The patch pertains to the squadron as opposed to any given ship. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a lot of info out there on VS-23.

My best friends father served aboard the Boxer CVA-21 in the mid to late 1950's, shortly after the ASW units transitioned from the Avenger to Grumman S2F Tracker's. VS-23 did a tour on the Boxer around the same time, although I do not know if they ever coincided. I'm going to check with my friend to see if his father has any memories of particular squadrons (He was an electrician and worked on the S2F's, but I do not know if he was assigned to a squadron or to the ship), unfortunately he suffered a stroke a few years and he is partially paralyzed and his memory greatly suffers.


There are a few mentions of the squadron prior to 1951 here here but mostly deal with CVE 115.

other stations during Korea.
from Korean War order of battle
Bairoko (CVE 115) (14 Nov 1950-15 Aug 1951)

Squadron Aircraft Tail Code
VS-21 TBM-3S/W BS (aboard 3
Dec-16 Feb)
VS-23 TBM-3E/S/W MI (aboard 17
Feb-15 Aug)
HU-1 Det HO3S-1 UP

Bairoko (CVE 115) (1 Dec 1951-9 Jun 1952)

Squadron Aircraft Tail Code
VS-25 AF-2S/W SK (aboard to
21 Jan, returned
in May)
HU-1 Det HO3S-1 UP

Bairoko (CVE 115) (12 Jan 1953-24 Aug 1953)

Squadron Aircraft Tail Code
VMA-312 F4U-4/B WR (aboard 9
May-8 Jun)
VS-21 AF-2S/W BS (aboard 3
Feb-8 May)
VS-23 TBM-3S/W MI (ashore at
Agana, Guam,
Feb-Apr)
HU-1 Det HO3S-1 UP
Point Cruz (CVE 119) (11 Apr 1953-18 Dec 1953)

Squadron Aircraft Tail Code
VMA-332 F4U-4B MR
VS-38 TBM-3S/W ST (put shore
at Agana,
Guam, 28
Apr)
VS-23 TBM-3S/W MI (aboard 28
Apr-Japan)
HS-2 HRS-2 HV
HU-1 Det HO3S-1 UP

Here's a page showing the difficulties in tracking a navy squadrons lineage
Naval Aviation Squadron Lineages
(see vs-21's lineage there to see what vs-23's lineage may have been like)

As to why the CVE's where so short lived.. They were small and slow, 200 feet or more shorter and half the speed of their contemporary long hulled Essex class CV's. By the 1960's the Enterprise class (nuclear powered) and Kittyhawk (conventionally powered) class super carriers were rolling out.

 

[Johnny Signor]

somewhere in it's lineage it was also VC-23 (Composite) same emblem just the redesignation,the navy was very good at changing the titles many times in just a short few years if not months and it makes for a very interesting search to nail down exact time/unit ID.