SPROSTON DD 577

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 April 1 1942 - Launched August 31 1942 USS SPROSTON DD-577 Commissioned May 19 1943 - Decommissioned January 18 1946 Recommissioned September 15 1950 USS SPROSTON DDE-577 Reclassified Escort Destroyer (DDE) March 26 1949 USS SPROSTON DD-577 Reverted to Destroyer (DD) June 30 1962 Decommissioned September 30 1968 Struck from Naval Register October 1 1968 Sold December 15 1971 to Chou's Iron & Steel, Taiwan 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 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. Sproston Covers Page 1     (1951-66)

 

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

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1st Commissioning May 19 1943 to January 18 1946

 

Locy Type 2z*

1943-06-22

As DD-577
Official Business
Type 2z* not listed as aboard ship

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2nd Commissioning September 15 1950 to September 30 1968

 

Locy Type FDPS 2

1951-01-05

As DDE-577
First Day of Postal Service

 

Locy Type FDPS 9efu

1951-01-05

As DDE-577
First Day of Postal Service

 

Locy Type 2 USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. S-60

1951-01-27

As DDE-577

 

Locy Type 2 USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. S-60a

1956-02-11

As DDE-577

 

Locy Type 2(n+) (DD,USS)

1966-08-25

As DD-577
Apollo AS 202 US Navy Recovery Force. Cachet by Morris W. Beck

 

Locy Type 9efu ("USS" omitted)

1956-05-31

No Image

As DDE-577
Proof strike on piece.

 

Other Information

SPROSTON received 5 battle stars for World War II, 1 for Korean service, and 3 for Vietnamese service

NAMESAKE - John G. Sproston
Sproston was appointed to the Naval Academy in 1846. He served on the Pacific Station during the war with Mexico. During the Civil War, he served as Commanding Officer of POWHATAN and as Executive Officer of SENNECA. On November 1 1861, during the battle for Port Royal, S.C., Sproston personally fired many of the 11-inch guns on board SENNECA as the crew was new and untrained. Lt. Sproston was killed on June 8 1862 while on a boat expedition to destroy a Confederate Privateer in the St. John's River, Fla.

 

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