BURDEN R HASTINGS DE 19

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.

Evarts Class Type GMT Destroyer Escort
Keel Laid April 15 1942 for Great Britain
Launched November 20 1942


1. HMS DUCKWORTH BDE-19 (British Naval Service)
   Retained January 25 1943 by U.S. Navy and renamed
   
   
2. USS BURDEN R. HASTINGS DE-19
   Commissioned May 1 1943 - Decommissioned October 25 1945
   
   Struck from Naval Register November 13 1945
   Sold February 1 1946 to The National Metal & Steel Corp., Terminal Island CA 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).

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1. Covers Page 1     (1943-44)

 

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.
 
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Postmark Type --- Killer Bar Text	Date From to Date To	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

 

Locy Type 2z

1943-10-10

Note:

 

Other Information

BURDEN R. HASTINGS earned 4 Battle Stars (WWII)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons...
Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive) - American Campaign Medal - Asia-Pacific Campaign Medal w/4 stars - WWII Victory Medal

NAMESAKE - Burden Robert Hastings USN (August 1 1910 - December 26 1941)
Hastings entered the Naval Academy on June 20 1929 under an appointment from Indiana. After graduating on June 1 1933, he served successive tours in the battleships USS CALIFORNIA BB-44 and USS IDAHO BB-42 before reporting to the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Fla., on February 20 1936 for flight training. Designated a Naval Aviator, Hastings, promoted to Lieutenant (junior grade) on June 1 1936, initially remained at Pensacola as an instructor. Following a brief assignment at San Diego with the Fleet Air Detachment, Aircraft, Battle Force, from May 19 to June 7 1937, the young officer joined Bomber Squadron (VB) 1 in aircraft carrier USS RANGER CV-4. He remained with that unit after it was redesignated Torpedo Squadron (VT) 2 on July 1 1937 and transferred to USS LEXINGTON CV-2. While in that assignment, Lt. (jg.) Hastings took part in an important transition in naval aviation when VT-2 replaced its venerable Martin BM-1 and BM-2 biplanes with more modern monoplanes, Douglas TBD-1s, between January and May 1938. Detached from VT-2 on June 24 1939, Lt. (jg.) Hastings transferred to Patrol Squadron (VP) 18, a unit equipped predominantly with the Consolidated PBY-4 "Catalina" flying boat. Duty with VP-13 followed from July 1 1938 to January 18 1940, and then he joined VP-26, remaining with that unit through its redesignation to VP-101 on December 5 1940 and its assignment to the Asiatic Fleet with the reorganization of Patrol Wing (PatWing) 10 on December 16 1940. For the next year, as war with Japan edged nearer, PatWing 10's PBYs carried out patrols over Philippine waters. When hostilities finally broke out on December 8 1941, December 7 east of the International Date Line, the squadron's planes were ready since they had begun operations under wartime conditions late in November. The Asiatic Fleet carried out a fighting withdrawal from the islands, retiring to the "Malay Barrier" while devastating Japanese hammer blows quickly reduced the American Army's highly touted air forces in the Philippines to impotence. Moreover, another force, the Asiatic Fleet's submarines, plagued by torpedo failures, achieved far less than had been expected. On 15 December 1941, PatWing 10, its bases at Cavite and Olongapo rendered untenable, began heading south toward Ambon, in the Netherlands East Indies. At 2300 on December 26 1941, six of the squadron's PBYs, under Hastings' command, took off from Ambon and set course for the island of Jolo to bomb Japanese ships reported in the harbor there. En route to the objective, the first section lost sight of the second and circled at 12,000 feet some 30 miles south of Jolo awaiting their absent companions. As dawn began to streak the sky, it became evident that the second section was not going to arrive in time to carry out the attack before broad daylight, as planned. Hastings, therefore, decided to go ahead without the second section and set course to approach Jolo from the south. Antiaircraft fire soon began blossoming in the sky above Jolo; and Lt. (jg.) J. B. Dawley, flying 101-P-6, sighted approaching two formations of three enemy planes each. "Extremely heavy" antiaircraft fire from both ship and shore greeted the three lumbering PBYs. When the trio of "Catalinas" were still too far from their target, six Mitsubishi A6M2 "Zero" fighters swept down on them from astern. Hastings' port waist gunner opened fire directly over Dawley's aircraft. As the "Zeroes" swept in, the flight leader commenced evasive action, turning the PBY and making "quick zooms" to spoil the attackers' aim. Unable to maintain his place in the formation because of Hastings' low air speed, his wingman, Dawley, dove out of formation and carried out his own attack alone, losing sight of the other planes. According to eyewitnesses below, Hastings' plane cleared the harbor with a "Zero" apparently on its tail. The PBY crashed in flames. Filipinos recovered the bodies of Hastings and at least four of his crew and accorded them a proper burial on shore. For his heroism in leading the mission, Hastings was awarded The Navy Cross, posthumously

 

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