ROBERT H SMITH DM 23

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.

Allen M. Sumner Class Destroyer Keel Laid January 10 1944 Launched May 25 1944 as Destroyer DD-735 Completed July 19 1944 and redesignated Light Minelayer (DM) ROBERT H. SMITH DM-23 Commissioned August 4 1944 - Decommissioned January 29 1947 Redesignated MMD January 1 1969, While in reserve Struck from Naval Register February 26 1971 Sold December 3 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).

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1. Covers Page 1     (1944)

 

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

1944-08-24

Note:

 

Other Information

ROBERT H. SMITH earned five battle stars for World War II service

NAMESAKE - Robert H. Smith USN
Smith graduated from the Naval Academy June 6 1920. After duty in various surface ships, he served with the Submarine Service for 17 years. He commanded USS BONITA SS-165, was an instructor at the New London submarine school, a member of the Naval Academy staff, Submarine Gunnery Officer with the Bureau of Navigation, Navigation Officer in USS PENNSYLVANIA BB-38, and Chief of Staff for Submarine Division, Atlantic Patrol Force. Following promotion to Captain, he commanded USS SPERRY AS-12 in the Pacific from May 1942 to January 1943, and was Commander of Squadron 2, Pacific Submarine Fleet, when he died in an airplane crash in California January 21 1943

 

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