HAWKINS DD 873

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.

Gearing Class Destroyer Keel Laid May 14 1944 as BEATTY Renamed June 22 1944 Launched October 7 1944 USS HAWKINS DD-873 Commissioned February 10 1945 USS HAWKINS DDR-873 Redesignated Radar Picket Destroyer (DDR) March 18 1949 USS HAWKINS DD-873 Reverted to Destroyer (DD) April 1 1964 Decommissioned October 1 1979 Struck from Naval Register October 1 1979 ROCS TZE-YOUNG (Taiwanese Naval Service) Sold March 17 1983 to Taiwan and renamed

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.

1. Hawkins Covers Page 1     (1946-78)

 

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

 

Locy Type 2tnu (DD)

1948-04-07

As DD-873

 

Locy Type 2tnu (DDR) USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. H-19c

1961-06-30

As DDR-873
Faint cachet of President McKinley.

 

Locy Type 2t(nu) (DD,USS)

1971-05-03

As DD-873
Cachet by Tazewell G. Nicholson for the visit of HMS PUMA.

 

Locy Type 9ef(nu)

1947-06-04

As DD-873

 

Locy Type 9ef(n+u) (USS)

1969-12-31

As DD-873

 

Locy Type 9# (Br. #15478)

1945-03-08

As DD-873
Receipt stub

 

Locy Type P USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. H-19

1946-02-10

As DD-873

 

Locy Type P USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. H-19 (without "USS")

1946-04-23

As DD-873

 

Locy Type LDPS 2(n+)

1978-01-12

As DD-873
Last Day Postal Service

 

Locy Type LDPS 9ef(n+u)

1978-01-12

As DD-873
Last Day Postal Service

 

Other Information

HAWKINS earned 2 Battle Stars for Korea service

NAMESAKE - First Lieutenant William Deane Hawkins, USMCR (April 18 1914 - November 21 1943).
Hawkins enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve on January 5 1942, and was assigned to the 7th Recruit Battalion, Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego. He was assigned to the 2nd Marines, 2nd Marine Division, completed Scout Snipers' School at Camp Elliott, San Diego, and on July 1 1942 embarked on board the "USS Crescent City" for the Pacific area.
A Private First Class when he went overseas, he was quickly promoted to Corporal and then Sergeant. On November 17 1942, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant while taking part in the Guadalcanal campaign in the battle for the Solomons. On June 1 1943, he was promoted to First Lieutenant.
Less than six months later, he was killed in action leading a scout-sniper platoon in the attack on Betio Island during the assault on Tarawa. During the two-day assault, 1st Lt Hawkins led attacks on pill boxes and installations, personally initiated an assault on a hostile position fortified by five enemy machine guns, refused to withdraw after being seriously wounded and destroyed three more pill boxes before he was mortally wounded on November 21 1943.
For his actions above and beyond the call of duty, 1st Lt Hawkins was posthumously awarded The Medal of Honor.

 

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