ERICSSON DD 440
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.
- Gleaves Class Destroyer
- USS ERICSSON DD-440
Commissioned March 13 1941 - Decommissioned March 15 1946
Struck from Naval Register June 1 1970
Sunk as target November 17 1970
Keel Laid March 18 1940 - Launched November 23 1940
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.
- Covers Page 1 (1940-46)
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 |
Date From to Date To |
Thumbnail Link To Close-Up Image |
Thumbnail Link To Full Cover Image |
|---|
|
Kearny NJ |
1940-03-18 |
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 |
Keel Laying
Hutnick Cachet
|
Locy Type |
1941-04-19 |
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 |
First Day of Postal Service, cachet by Peter J. McKenna
|
Locy Type |
1941-04-19 |
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 |
First Day of Postal Service
|
Locy Type |
1941-04-19 |
 |
 |
First Day of Postal Service
|
Locy Type |
1946-01-25 |
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 |
Note:
|
Locy Type |
1941-05-03 |
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 |
Note:
|
Locy Type |
1942-10-17 |
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Censored wartime (WWII) use
|
Locy Type |
1942-01-02 |
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 |
Mark from back of cover
Censored wartime (WWII) use
|
Locy Type |
1941-05-07 |
 |
 |
Note:
|
Locy Type Fz |
1941-07-05 |
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 |
Note:
|
Locy Type Fz |
1941-07-05 |
 |
|
Note: Reverse of the July 5 1941 cover showing the manuscript ship's name
Other Information
ERICSSON received 3 battle stars for World War II service
NAMESAKE - John Ericsson (July 31 1803 - March 8 1889)
Ericsson was one of the 19th Century's most creative engineers and inventors. As a youth, he joined the Swedish Army, which recognized his talents and put him to work on topographical duties. Ericsson left the Army in 1826 and moved to England, where he pursued a variety of engineering projects, among them the use of screw propellers on ships, the development of extraordinarly large guns and the creation of engines driven by hot air instead of steam. Ericsson's work attracted the attention Robert F. Stockton, an influential and progressive U.S. Navy officer, who encouraged him to relocate to the United States. During the early 1840s, the two designed a screw-propelled warship, which was commissioned in 1843 as USS PRINCETON, armed with heavy guns of their devising. The tragic explosion of one of these guns, and efforts to improperly assign the blame to Ericsson, led the strong-willed engineer to redirect his creativity into civilian fields, which he pursued successfully during the 1840s and 1850s. The outbreak of the American Civil War brought John Ericsson back into formal contact with the Navy, when he designed and produced USS MONITOR, a revolutionary armored ship carrying her guns in a rotating turret. MONITOR's successful battle with the Confederate Ironclad VIRGINIA on March 9 1862 made Ericsson a great hero in the North. For the remainder of the conflict, he was actively involved in designing and building a large series of "Monitor"-type turret ships for the Navy. Ericsson continued his work on maritime and naval technology after the Civil War, producing ships for foreign navies and experimenting with submarines, self-propelled torpedoes and heavy ordnance. He remained active until his death in New York City on March 8 1889. In August 1890, following a memorial service at New York, his body was placed on board the cruiser USS BALTIMORE C-3, which carried him across the Atlantic to his native Sweden for burial
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