HOWARD F CLARK DE 533

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.

John C. Butler Class Destroyer Escort Keel Laid 8 October 1943 - Launched and Christened 8 November 1943 USS HOWARD F. CLARK DE-533 Commissioned 25 May 1944 - Decommissioned 15 July 1946 Struck from Naval Register 15 May 1972 Sold 6 September 1973 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 Howard F. Clark DE-533 Covers Page 1     (1944-1946)

 

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

---

Post Office Established 15 May 1944 - Post Office Discontinued 8 March 1946

 

Locy Type 2(n) (used after POD)

1946-04-17

From the Bob Govern collection.

 

Other Information

USS HOWARD F. CLARK earned the Combat Action Ribbon, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ 3 Battle stars, the WWII Victory Medal and the Philippine Liberation Ribbon during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - Lt.j.g. Howard Franklin Clark, USN (15 September 1914-8 May 1942)
        Clark was born in Wilmington, DE and graduated from the Naval Academy 2 June 1938. He served at sea until 1940, when he underwent flight training. Reporting to the carrier USS Lexington 1 April 1941 as a member of Fighter Squadron 3, he earned a Distinguished Flying Cross 20 February 1942 when he brought down an enemy bomber attempting to attack the carrier. During the Battle of the Coral Sea, Clark again and again engaged enemy aircraft, in utter disregard of his own safety, until his plane was shot down. Lieutenant (j.g.) Clark was posthumously awarded a second Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroism during the battle, 7-8 May 1942. {DANFS}

The ships sponsor was Mrs. Howard Clark, widow of Lt j.g. Howard F. Clark.

 

---

 

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