NIELDS DD 616

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.

Benson Class Destroyer Keel Laid 15 June 1942 - Launched 1 October 1942 USS NIELDS DD-616 Commissioned 15 January 1943 - Decommissioned 26 March 1946 Struck from Naval Register 15 September 1970 Sold 8 May 1972 to Southern Materials, New Orleans for scrap

Lt. Cmdr. Henry C. Nields, USN

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).

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1. USS Nields DD-616 Covers Page 1     (1944-1945)

 

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 2z*

1945-12-28

Note:

 

Locy Type 9vz

1944-02-24

Note:

 

Locy Type 9xz

1943

From the Bob Govern collection.

 

Other Information

USS NIELDS earned the European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal w/ 3 battle stars, the Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal and the Navy Occupation Service Medal during her Naval career.

NAMESAKE - Lieutenant Commander Henry C. Nields, USN (18 March 1838 – 13 December 1880)
Nields was an officer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War. Nields was appointed Mate on 11 February 1863 and Acting Ensign on 11 July 1864. Assigned to USS METACOMET, he earned Admiral David G. Farragut's praise for his part in the rescue of survivors from USS TECUMSEH after that monitor had gone down, mined within 600 yards of Confederate guns during the Battle of Mobile Bay. Nields and his boat crew saved one officer, eight enlisted men, and the pilot, braving “one of the most galling fires” that Farragut had ever seen. Advanced to the rank of Lieutenant Commander on 1 July 1870 and died on 13 December 1880.

The ships sponsor was Miss Ella S. Nields, daughter of Lieutenant Commander Nields.

 

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