RILEY DE 579

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.

Rudderow Class Destroyer Escort Keel Laid 20 October 1943 - Launched and Christened 29 December 1943 USS RILEY DE-579 Commissioned 13 March 1944 - Decommissioned 15 January 1947 Struck from Naval Register 25 January 1974 ROCS TAI YUAN F-27 (Taiwanese Naval Service) Transferred to Taiwan 10 July 1968 and renamed Stricken by Taiwan 1996 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 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 Riley DE-579 Covers Page 1     (1945)

 

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

 

Locy Type 2z

1944-08-17

Official Business. From the Bob Govern collection.

 

 

Locy Type 9# (Br. #15857)

c1945

Note:

 

Other Information

USS RILEY earned the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/ 2 Battle stars, the European-Africa-Middle East Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal and the Philippine Liberation Ribbon during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - Lieutenant Paul James Riley, USNR (April 12 1913 - June 4 1942)
         Riley enlisted in the Naval Reserve 12 December 1931 and was appointed Midshipman 26 June 1933. Commissioned Ensign 4 years later, he was designated Naval Aviator 22 May 1940 and on 28 July he reported for duty in Torpedo Squadron 6 on board USS Enterprise CV-6. Promoted to Lieutenant 6 January 1942, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for "heroic conduct in aerial combat during the operations of U.S. forces against the Marshall Islands", 1 February 1942. A little over 4 months later, during the Battle of Midway on 4 June 1942, Lieutenant Riley was killed as he "pressed home his attack" against the Japanese Fleet "in the face of a terrific barrage of antiaircraft fire." For his "extraordinary heroism and courageous devotion to duty" in that battle, he was awarded the Navy Cross and Purple Heart posthumously.

The ships sponsor was Miss Mildred LaVerne Riley, sister of Lieutenant Riley.

 

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