HEYWOOD L EDWARDS DD 663

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.

Fletcher Class Destroyer Keel Laid July 4 1943 - Launched October 6 1943 USS HEYWOOD L. EDWARDS DD-663 Commissioned January 26 1944 - Decommissioned July 1 1946 Struck from Naval Register March 18 1974 ARIAKE DD-183 (Japanese Naval Service) Transferred to Japan March 10 1959 and renamed Broken up for scrap 1976

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. Covers Page 1     (DATE RANGE)

 

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

1944-10-29

Note:

 

Other Information

HEYWOOD L. EDWARDS received seven battle stars for her service in World War Il and a Navy Unit Commendation for her outstanding part in the great amphibious operations of 1944-45

NAMESAKE - Heywood Lane Edwards USN (November 9 1905 - April 6 1940)
Edwards graduated from the Naval Academy in 1926. After serving in ships, he underwent submarine instruction in 1931, served in several submarines, and was assigned to cruiser USS DETROIT CL-8 in 1935. Lt. Comdr. Edwards assumed command of Destroyer USS REUBEN JAMES DD-245 April 6 1940. His ship became the first in the U.S. Navy to be sunk in the Battle of the Atlantic when it was torpedoed by the German Submarine U-552 commanded by Kapitainleutnant Erich Topp near Iceland while on convoy duty on October 30-31 1941.
Lt. Comdr. Edwards and 99 of his crew perished with the ship

 

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