THOMPSON DD 305

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.

Clemson Class Destroyer Keel Laid August 14 1918 - Launched January 19 1919 USS THOMPSON DD-305 Commissioned August 16 1920 - Decommissioned April 4 1930 Struck from Naval Register June 22 1930 Sold for scrap Following the sale, served as a floating restaurant in lower San Francisco Bay Repurchased February 1944 by U.S. Navy as target Partly sank in the mud flats of San Francisco Bay, south of the San Mateo Bridge Army and Navy aircraft carried out bombing runs with dummy bombs Portions of the wreck remain above the waterline to this day The wreckage is commonly referred to as the "South Bay Wreck" Many tide tables reference her as a calculation point

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     (1928)

 

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 3as (A) with provisional bars (Unlisted)

c1927

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Locy Type 9

1928-11-12

Note:

 

Other Information

NAMESAKE - Richard Wigginton Thompson (June 8 1809 - February 9 1900)
Thompson was an American politician. He left Virginia in 1831 and lived briefly in Louisville, Kentucky before finally settling in Lawrence County, Indiana. There, he taught school, kept a store, and studied law at night. Admitted to the Bar in 1834, he practiced law in Bedford, Indiana, and served four terms in the Indiana Legislature from 1834 to 1838. He served as President Pro Tempore of the Indiana Senate for a short time and briefly held the office of Acting Lieutenant Governor. In the Presidential Election of 1840, he zealously advocated the election of William Henry Harrison. Thompson then represented Indiana in the United States Congress, serving in the United States House of Representatives from 1841 to 1843 and again from 1847 to 1849. Following the American Civil War, Thompson served as judge of the 18th Circuit Court of the state of Indiana from 1867 to 1869. In 1877, President of the United States Rutherford B. Hayes appointed him Secretary of the Navy; and he held that office until 1881. Retiring to Indiana, Richard W. Thompson lived out the remainder of his days in his adopted state. He died in 1900 at Terre Haute, Indiana

 

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