BALDWIN DD 624

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.

Gleaves Class Destroyer Keel Laid 19 July 1941 - Launched 14 June 1942 USS BALDWIN DD-624 Commissioned 30 April 1943 - Decommissioned 20 June 1946 Grounded 19 April 1961 while under tow on Montauk Pt., NY. Struck from Naval Register 1 June 1961 Sunk by gunfire from USS Luiseno ATF-156 and USS Recovery ARS-43 5 June 1961, in 200 fathoms.

Naval Covers

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1. USS Baldwin DD-624 Covers Page 1     (1944)

 

Postmarks

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

 

Locy Type 2z*

1944-11-07

Note:

 

Locy Type 2# (Br #16072)

1946-01-26

Sailors mail. From the Bob Govern collection.

 

Other Information

USS BALDWIN earned the European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal w/ 3 Battle Stars and the World War II Victory Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - Acting Master's Mate Charles Baldwin, USN (30 June 1839 - 22 January 1911)
Baldwin enlisted in the Navy on January 13 1864 at Philadelphia. While serving as a coal heaver in the side wheel gunboat USS WYALUSING stationed at the western end of North Carolina's Albemarle Sound near the mouth of the Roanoke River, Baldwin joined four other enlisted men in devising a plan to sink the Confederate ironclad ram CSS ALBEMARLE. Their superiors approved the project and, in the afternoon of May 26 1864, the five sailors rowed up the Middle River with two 100 pound torpedoes (mines) and carried them by stretcher across the swampland separating the Middle and Roanoke Rivers to a point just above and opposite CSS ALBEMARLE's mooring place on the Roanoke at Plymouth. Baldwin and another sailor, John Lloyd, then swam across the river with a towline attached to the explosive devices and hauled them across. They then connected the torpedoes by a bridle; and Baldwin reentered the water to guide them downstream toward the ram, hoping to place the bridle across her prow torpedo making contact with each side of her hull. He was then to swim clear before another man, stationed across the river, detonated the torpedoes electrically. The Confederates, however, caught sight of both swimmer and torpedoes when they were just a few yards short of their goal. A hail of musketry from the shore followed soon after a sentry's alarm. Lloyd quickly cut the guideline while Baldwin swam back across the river and hid in the swamp. Three of the five Union sailors returned to USS WYALUSING on the evening of May 28. Baldwin and the remaining man spent two hungry days and nights evading Southern forces before being rescued on the 28th by Commodore Hull. For his part in the mission, Baldwin was promoted to Acting Master's Mate and later received The Medal of Honor. Despite the failure of Baldwin's daring expedition, efforts to destroy ALBEMARLE continued. In June, a string of torpedoes was placed across the Roanoke to be exploded under the ram should she descend the river for another foray into Albemarle Sound. Each was attached to a lock string held by a sailor hiding on shore ready to pull a detonating wire were CSS ALBEMARLE to pass over his charge. Baldwin commanded these pickets until captured along with four of his men on Independence Day 1864. Later exchanged, Baldwin was mustered out of the Navy on January 12 1865 at the expiration of his term of enlistment. Following the war, he lived and worked at various places in several states before finally settling in Accokeek, a small hamlet in Maryland south of Washington, D.C. Baldwin died in Accokeek on January 22 1911.

The ships sponsor was Mrs. Ida E. Crawford, daughter of Acting Master's Mate Baldwin.

 

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