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2010-09-30T18:08:33Z

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<h3>Ship Name and Designation History</h3>
This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during
its lifetime.
The list is in chronological order.
<table width="90%">
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<ol>Allen M. Sumner Class Destroyer / Robert H. Smith Light Minelayer<br/>
Keel Laid January 31 1944<br/>
Launched June 10 1944 as Destroyer DD-736<br/>
Reclassified Light Minelayer (DM) July 19 1944<br/><br/>
<li>'''USS THOMAS E. FRASER DM-24'''<br/>
Commissioned August 4 1944 - Decommissioned September 12 1955<br/>
Laid up in Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Norfolk Group<br/>
Reclassified Fast Minelayer (MMD) January 1 1969, While in reserve<br/><br/>
Struck from Navy Register November 5 1970<br/>
Scrapped June 1 1974
</ol></td>
<td align="center" width="220" valign="top">

</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p> </p>

<h3>Naval Covers</h3>
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.
<ol>
<li> Covers Page 1     (DATE RANGE)</li>
</ol>
<p> </p>

<h3>Postmarks</h3>
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.
<br/> <br/>
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the
existing example.



<br/> <br/><table width="95%" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0">
<tr><th align="center" valign="center" width="140">
Postmark Type<br/>---<br/>Killer Bar Text
</th><th align="center" valign="center" width="100">
Date From<br/>to<br/>Date To</th>
<th align="center" width="320">Thumbnail Link To<br/>Postmark Image</th>
<th align="center" width="120">Thumbnail Link To<br/>Cover Image</th>
</tr></table>




<br/> <br/><table width="95%" border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0">
<tr><td align="center" valign="center" width="140">
NO THOMAS E. FRASER POSTMARKS<br/>AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME
</td><td align="center" valign="center" width="100">
DATE FROM
<br/>to<br/>
DATE TO
</td><td align="center" width="320">

</td><td align="center" width="120">

</td></tr></table>
Note:


<p> </p>
<h3>Other Information</h3>
THOMAS E. FRASER received three battle stars for World War II service<br/><br/>
'''NAMESAKE''' - Thomas Edward Fraser USN (February 6 1901 - November 15 1942)<br/>
Fraser was appointed to the United States Naval Academy on September 3 1920. After graduating on June 4 1924, he served in [[WYOMING AG 17|USS WYOMING AG-17]] for nearly a year and studied torpedo warfare at the Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, R.I., before reporting for duty on board USS WARDEN DD-288 on January 17 1926. He served in that destroyer until May 1 1930. Following assignments in [[ELLIS AG 115|USS ELLIS DD-154]] and at the New York Navy Yard, Fraser reported on March 1 1934 for duties in connection with the fitting out of [[TUSCALOOSA CA 37|USS TUSCALOOSA CA-37]]. Assignments to the Philadelphia and Portsmouth Navy Yards followed in the late 1930's.
On November 10 1941, he became commanding officer of [[WALKE DD 416|USS WALKE DD-416]]; and, on August 20 1942, he was appointed to the temporary rank of Commander. On the night of November 14-15 1942, WALKE was a part of Rear Admiral Willis Augustus Lee's Task Force 64, when it encountered a large Japanese force off Savo Island attempting to bring reinforcements to Guadalcanal. Acting as the Senior Commander of the four destroyers of the task force, CDR Fraser boldly led them into action against the numerically superior Japanese force. The torpedoes and heavy gunfire of the Japanese vessels took a devastating toll of the American destroyers; and, shortly after midnight, CDR Fraser gave the order to abandon WALKE. He was lost in the ensuing action and was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his valor and devotion to duty




<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
If you have images or information to add to this page, then either
[[Contact_Us | contact the Curator]] or edit this page yourself and add it.
See [[Editing_Ship_Pages | Editing Ship Pages]] for detailed information on
editing this page.
<p> </p>
<hr>
<font size="-2">Copyright {{CURRENTYEAR}} Naval Cover Museum</font>

THOMAS E FRASER DM 24 - Revision history

JonBurdett: created page