RINGGOLD DD 500

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.

Fletcher Class Destroyer Keel Laid 25 June 1942 - Launched 11 November 1942 USS RINGGOLD DD-500 Commissioned 24 December 1942 - Decommissioned 23 March 1946 Struck from Naval Register 1 October 1974 Z 2 (West German Naval Service) Transferred to West Germany 14 July 1959 and renamed ZERSTORER 2 D-171 (West German Naval Service) (alt: ZERSTÖRER) Name and designation changed (date unknown) “Zestörer” is German for ‘destroyer’ KIMON D-42 (Greek Naval Service) (alt: ΚΊΜΩΝ) Transferred to Greece 18 September 1981 and renamed Used for spare parts Stricken and broken up for scrap 1993

Rear Admiral Cadwallader Ringgold, USN

 

Conflicting History Data

For the ship's Greek Navy name, NavSource says: "Κίμων [Kimon] (D 65)" but Wikipedia says: "Kimon (D42)"
Other sources seem to agree with Wikipedia.

 

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 Ringgold DD-500 Covers Page 1     (1945)

 

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 2(n) (27 Oct 1945)

1945-10-27

Navy Day

 

Locy Type 2(n)

1945-11-19

Note:

 

Locy Type 3z

1945-08-17

Note:

 

Locy Type 9ruz

1945-03-12

Registered, censored, airmail cover. Sailor's mail. From the Bob Govern collection.

 

Other Information

USS RINGGOLD earned the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ 10 battle stars and the World War II Victory Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - Rear Admiral Cadwallader Ringgold, USN (20 August 1802 - 29 April 1867)
Ringgold entered the U.S. Navy in 1819. He commanded the Schooner WEAZEL in action against West Indies pirates during the late 1820s and later served on board VANDALIA in the Pacific and ADAMS in the Mediterranean. During 1838-42, he participated in the Wilkes Expedition in the Pacific, commanding PORPOISE from 1840. Inactive in the later 1850s, he returned to the fleet during the Civil War. While in command of the Frigate SABINE he effected the rescue of a battalion of Marines whose transport steamer had gone inshore and also of the Ship of the Line VERMONT which had lost her rudder in a storm. Promoted to Commodore in 1862, he was placed on the Rear Admiral (retired) list in 1866. Rear Admiral Ringgold died in New York.

The ships sponsor was Mrs. Arunah Sheperdson Abell, grand niece of Rear Adm. Cadwallader Ringgold.

Two ships of the US Navy were named in his honor - USS Ringgold DD-89 and USS Ringgold DD-500.

 

---

 

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