HENRY A WILEY MMD 29

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 28 November 1943
Launched 21 April 1944 as Destroyer DD-749
Completed as Robert A. Smith Class Minelayer (DM) 20 June 1944


1. USS HENRY A. WILEY DM-29
   Commissioned 31 August 1944 - Decommissioned 29 January 1947
   
   
2. USS HENRY A. WILEY MMD-29
   Reclassified Fast Minelayer (MMD) 1 January 1969 while in reserve
   
   Stricken 15 October 1970
   Sold 30 May 1972 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 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. USS Henry A. Wiley DM-29 Covers Page 1     (1944-45)

 

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	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

 

Locy Type 2z

1945-02-07

Note:

 

Locy Type 2# (Br. #16109)

1946-06-28

Cachet by Ted Harrington

 

Locy Type 2# (Br. #16109)

1946-11-26

Note:

 

Locy Type F USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. H-31

1945-09-17

Sailor's Mail

 

Other Information

For her intrepid actions off Okinawa, which resulted in the destruction of 15 Japanese planes, USS HENRY A. WILEY received the Presidential Unit Citation, and her C.O. the Navy Cross and Legion of Merit. USS HENRY A. WILEY also received the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign medal w/ four battle stars and the World War II Victory Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - Admiral Henry Aristo Wiley, USN (31 January 1867 – 20 May 1943)
Born in Pike County, Ala., 31 January 1867 and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1888. He served in USS Maple during the Spanish-American War and attained his first command, USS Villalobos, in 1904. During the First World War Wiley commanded battleship USS Wyoming attached to the 6th Battle Squadron of the British Grand Fleet and received the Distinguished Service Medal for his outstanding performance. After various shore and fleet commands, he was appointed Admiral in 1927 and served as Commander-in-chief, U.S. Fleet, until his retirement in 1929 after over 40 years of service. Admiral Wiley served in the years that followed as Chairman of the Maritime Commission and in other important government posts until being recalled to active duty in 1941. In the next year he headed the Navy Board of Production Awards. Admiral Wiley retired once more 2 January 1943 and died 20 May 1943 at Palm Beach, FL

The ships sponsor was Mrs. Elisabeth Wiley Robb, Admiral Wiley’s daughter.

 

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