JOHN S McCAIN DDG 36

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.

Mitscher Class Destroyer Keel Laid 24 October 1949 as Destroyer DD-928 Redesignated Destroyer Leader (DL) 9 February 1951 Launched 12 July 1952 USS JOHN S. McCAIN DL-3 Commissioned 12 October 1953 - Decommissioned 24 June 1966 USS JOHN S. McCAIN DDG-36 Recommissioned Guided Missile Destroyer (DDG) 6 September 1969 Decommissioned 29 April 1978 Struck from Naval Register 29 April 1978 Sold 13 December 1979 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 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).

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1. USS John S. McCain DL-3 / DDG-36 Covers Page 1    (1953-1978)

 

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

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1st Commissioning 12 October 1953 to 12 June 1966

 

Locy Type FDC 2

1953-10-12

DL-3. First Day in Commission, cachet by Tazewell G. Nicholson

 

Locy Type 2

1953-10-27

DL-3. Cachet by George V. Sadworth

 

Locy Type 2p

1962-01-25

DL-3

 

Locy Type 9efu

1953-10-27

DL-3. Cachet by George V. Sadworth

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2nd Commissioning 6 September 1969 to 29 April 1978

 

Locy Type 2(n+) (DDG,USS)

1973-06-20

DDG-36. Ship's cachet, serviced by Wolfgang Hechler

 

Locy Type 2-1(n+) (USS,USN)

1976-11-08

DDG-36

 

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

1975-10-13

DDG-36

 

Locy Type LDPS 2-1(n+)

1978-04-15

DDG-36. Last Day of Postal Service. Ship's cachet, serviced by Wolfgang Hechler

 

Locy Type LDPS 9-1(n+u)

1978-04-15

DDG-36. Last Day Postal Service. Unlisted in USCS Postmark Catalog

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USPS 3-bar Cancel San Diego CA

1978-04-29

N/A

Last Day in Commission. Ship's cachet, serviced by Wolfgang Hechler

 

Other Information

NAMESAKE - Admiral John Sidney McCain Sr., USN (9 August 1884 – 6 September 1945).
McCain served in the U.S. Navy from 1906 to 1945 and was a veteran of World War I and World War II. McCain also participated in the "Great White Fleet" world cruise from 1907 to 1909.
John Sidney McCain was born in Teoc, Miss. 9 August 1884 and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1906. His first assignments were ships of the Asiatic Squadron. During the American occupation of Vera Cruz in the Mexican revolution he served in San Diego, and remained on the ship during 1918 while she performed Atlantic escort duty.
In the years between the World Wars, McCain served in many ships, including Maryland, New Mexico, and Nitro. His first command was Sirius. In 1936, at the age of 51, he was designated a Naval Aviator, and from 1937 to 1939 he commanded carrier Ranger, contributing much to the development of carrier tactics for the war to come. For the first year of World War II he served as Commander of Air Forces for Western Sea Frontier and the South Pacific Force. In October 1942 McCain became Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics and in August 1943 rose to the rank of Vice Admiral as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Air).
In 1944 he returned to the Pacific Theatre to command a fast carrier task force which for over a year operated almost continuously in support of the great amphibious operations. His exceedingly skillful tactics protecting Canberra (CA-70) and Houston (CA-81) in October 1944 earned him the Navy Cross, and the daring forays of his mobile force had much to do with the eventual victory. Vice Admiral McCain died 6 September 1945, just after arriving back in the United States, and was later appointed Admiral effective that date. For his outstanding performance as an air planner and carrier task force commander he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal with two Gold Stars.
During his career, Admiral McCain received the following awards - Navy Cross, Navy Distinguished Service Medal with 2 Gold Stars, World War I Victory Medal with "Escort" clasp, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal and Navy Occupation Service Medal with "Asia" clasp.

The ships sponsor was Mrs. John S. McCain, Jr., daughter-in-law of Admiral McCain

 

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