TATUM APD 81

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.

Buckley Class Destroyer Escort Keel Laid 22 April 1943 - Launched 7 August 1943 USS TATUM DE-789 Commissioned 22 November 1943 USS TATUM APD-81 Reclassified High-speed Transport (APD) 15 December 1944 Decommissioned 15 November 1946 Struck from Naval Register 1 June 1960 Sold 8 May 1961 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.

1. USS Tatum DE-789 Covers Page 1     (DATE RANGE)
2. USS Tatum APD-81 Covers Page 1     (DATE RANGE)

 

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	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

 

Locy Type 2z

1946-02-22

APD-81. Additional SLb (35x3) added.

 

Other Information

USS TATUM earned the Combat Action Ribbon, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ 1 star, the European-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal w/ 1 star, the World War II Victory Medal and the Navy Occupation Service Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - Lawrence Aldridge Tatum (7 December 1894 - 15 September 1942)
Tatum enlisted in the Navy at Atlanta, Ga., on 29 June 1917 as a Hospital Apprentice. Following training at San Francisco, he served at the Naval Hospital in Fort Lyon, Colo., and in the receiving ship at Norfolk, Va. On 15 October 1918, he was transferred to USS ALABAMA Battleship No. 8, in which he served until 28 May 1919. Pharmacist's Mate 2d Class Tatum completed his enlistment at the Naval Hospital in Philadelphia and was honorably discharged at Atlanta, Ga., on 18 August 1919.
During the ensuing nine years, he attended Atlanta Southern Dental College, Atlanta, Ga., and received his degree as a doctor of dental surgery. On 9 August 1928, Dr. Tatum was appointed an assistant dental surgeon in the Naval Reserve.
Late in August 1940, Lt. Comdr. Tatum reported to the Naval Air Station, Norfolk, Va., for active duty. He was serving in USS WASP CV-7 on 15 September 1942, as that carrier and USS HORNET CV-8 were covering the movement of reinforcements from Espiritu Santo to Guadalcanal. When USS WASP was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, Lt. Comdr. Tatum was among those trapped in the carrier's forecastle, cut off from the rest of the ship by raging flames. Rather than trying to save himself by jumping overboard, Tatum remained in the carrier to aid and comfort the wounded. He apparently went down with the ship when she sank. For his "gallant and intrepid conduct," Lt. Comdr. Tatum was awarded the Silver Star Medal posthumously.

The ships sponsor was Mrs. Cecile Cofield Tatum, the widow of LCDR. Lawrence A. Tatum, DC, USN.

 

---

 

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.

 

---

Copyright 2024 Naval Cover Museum