DESPATCH IX 2

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.

Steel-hulled Protected Cruiser Keel Laid (Date Unknown) - Launched 04 December 1884 USS BOSTON Protected Cruiser Commissioned 02 May 1887 - Decommissioned 04 November 1893 Recommissioned 15 November 1895 - Decommissioned 15 September 1899 Recommissioned 11 August 1902 - Decommissioned 10 June 1907 Assigned to the Oregon Militia 15 June 1911 Returned to U. S. Navy September 1916 Struck from Navy List 03 May 1917 Assigned to the Shipping Board 24 May 1917 Returned to U.S. Navy 18 June 1918 USS BOSTON (Receiving Ship) Recommissioned 16 December 1918 as Receiving Ship, Mare Island USS DESPATCH (Training Ship) Renamed 9 August 1940 Used as a radio school USS DESPATCH IX-2 Reclassified (IX) 17 February 1941 - Decommissioned 1946 Towed to sea and sunk off San Francisco 08 April 1946

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 Despatch IX-2 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

 

USPO Slogan Machine Postmark San Francisco, CA "BUY / DEFENSE SAVINGS / BONDS and STAMPS"

1941-09-23

The ship had no postal facilities.

 

Other Information

USS BOSTON / USS DESPATCH earned the Navy Expeditionary Medal (2 awards), the Spanish Campaign Medal, the Dewey Medal, the Philippine Campaign Medal, the World War I Victory Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - (BOSTON) - Boston Massachusetts

NAMESAKE - (DESPATCH) - As a verb, to send off or away, to dispose of speedily, to execute quickly. As a noun, a message sent with speed.

There has been seven ships that have borne the name BOSTON - USS Boston (1776 Gundalow), USS Boston (1777 24-gun Frigate), USS Boston (1799 28-gun Frigate),
USS Boston (1825 18-gun Sloop of War), USS Boston (1884 Protected Cruiser), USS Boston CA-69 and USS Boston SSN-703

There has been six ships that have borne the name DESPATCH - USS Despatch (1814 Schooner), USS Despatch (1852 Sloop-of-War), USS Despatch (1873 Screw Steamer),
USS Despatch (1902 Ferry Launch), USS Despatch PY-8 and USS Despatch IX-2.

 

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If you have images or information to add to this page, then either contact the Curator or edit this page yourself and add it. See Editing Ship Pages for detailed information on editing this page.

 

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