WILLIAM B PRESTON AVD 7

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.

Clemson Class Destroyer
Keel Laid 18 November 1918 - Launched 9 August 1919


1. USS WILLIAM B. PRESTON DD-344
Commissioned 23 August 1920 - Decommissioned 15 October 1934
Planned conversion to Small Seaplane Tender (AVP) 18 November 1939 cancelled
Recommissioned 14 June 1940


2. USS WILLIAM B. PRESTON AVD-7
Redesignated Destroyer-Seaplane Tender (AVD) 2 August 1940
Decommissioned 6 December 1945

Struck from Naval Register 3 January 1946
Sold 26 November 1946 and broken up 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).

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 William B. Preston AVD-7 Covers Page 1    (1931-1942)

 

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 23 August 1920 to 15 October 1934

 

Locy Type 3 (B-TBT) "SAN DIEGO / CALIF"

1934-04-06

As DD-344

 

Locy Type 3s (WM) "MARE / ISLAND"

1932-10-10

As DD-344

 

Locy Type LDC 3 "LAST DAY IN / COMMISSION"

1934-10-15

As DD-344
Last Day in Commission, cachet by Stephen Decatur Chapter No. 4, USCS

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2nd Commissioning 14 June 1940 to 6 December 1945

 

Locy Type FDPS 3 (A-BBT) "RECOMMISS- / IONED NYD NY"

1940-06-14

As DD-344
First Day of Postal Service, cachet by Al Cohen.

 

Locy Type 3 (A-BBT) "PEARL / HARBOR T H"

1940-10-21

As AVD-7

 

Locy Type F USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. CD-Z1

1942-08-29

AVD-7

 

Other Information

USS WILLIAM B. PRESTON earned the Yangtze Service Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ one battle star and the World War II Victory Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - William Ballard Preston (25 November 1805 – 16 November 1862)
U.S. Secretary of the Navy 1849-1850.

The ships sponsor was Mrs. William Radford Beale, the eldest daughter of William B. Preston.

 

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