SAMUEL B ROBERTS DD 823

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.

Gearing Class Destroyer Keel Laid June 27 1945 - Launched November 30 1945 USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS DD-823 Commissioned December 20 1946 - Decommissioned November 2 1970 Struck from Naval Register November 2 1970 Sunk as target November 11 1971 off Puerto Rico

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. Covers Page 1    (1947-59)

 

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	Date From to Date To	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

 

Locy Type FDPS 2(n)

1947-01-20

First Day of Postal Service

 

Locy Type 2

1954-01-19

Note:

 

Locy Type 2(n)

1950-05-30

Armed Forces Day, cachet by Spaulding

 

Locy Type 2t(n+u)

1959-09-19

Note:

 

Locy Type 9ef(nu)

1948-01-20

Note:

 

Other Information

NAMESAKE - Coxswain Samuel Booker Roberts, Jr., USN (May 12 1921 – September 27 1942)
Killed in the Battle of Guadalcanal
Early on the morning of September 27 1942, Roberts volunteered for a rescue mission to save a company-size unit of Marines that had been surrounded by a larger Japanese force. The rescue group of several Higgins boats was taken under heavy fire and was perilously close to failure. Roberts volunteered to distract Japanese forces by guiding his boat directly in front of their lines, drawing their fire. This decoy act was performed effectively until all Marines had been evacuated. However, as he was about to withdraw from the range of the Japanese guns, Roberts’ boat was hit and he was mortally wounded. His boatmates brought him back to base and he was flown out on a medical evacuation flight, but died the next day.
Roberts was awarded the Navy Cross for his valor in the face of enemy fire.

Three ships of the US Navy has been named in his honor; USS Samuel B Roberts DE-413, USS Samuel B Roberts DD-823 and
USS Samuel B Roberts FFG-58.

 

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