LAFFEY DD 724

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.

Allen M. Sumner Class Destroyer Keel Laid June 28 1943 - Launched November 21 1943 USS LAFFEY DD-724 Commissioned February 8 1944 Severely damaged April 15 1945 by four bombs and five Kamikaze off Okinawa 32 of her crew were lost and remain on duty Decommissioned June 30 1947 Recommissioned January 26 1951 - Decommissioned March 29 1975 Struck from Naval Register March 1 1975 Preserved as memorial at Patriots Point, Charleston, South Carolina

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     (1947-75)

 

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 February 8 1944 to June 30 1947

 

Locy Type 2z

1947-04-06

Ship carried only Type 2z and 9efu device during first commissioning

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2nd Commissioning January 26 1951 to March 29 1975

 

Locy Type FDPS 2r

1951-03-17

Post Office Restablished, cachet by Tazewell G. Nicholson

 

Locy Type 2r USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. L-1a

1952-05-14

Note:

 

Locy Type 2r USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. L-1b

1955-03-15

Note:

 

Locy Type 2t(n+u)

1958-07-15

Note:

 

Locy Type 2et(nu)

1967-11-14

Note:

 

Locy Type 9ef(n+u) (USS)

1967-11-14

Note:

 

Locy Type LDC F USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. CD-5

1975-03-29

Last Day in Commission

 

Other Information

LAFFEY earned 5 Battle Stars for WWII and 2 Battle Stars for Korea service

NAMESAKE - Bartlett Laffey (1841 - March 22 1901)
Laffey enlisted in the Navy March 17 1862 and was assigned to Stern Wheel Gunboat MARMORA. On March 5 1864, the Confederates launched a heavy attack on Union positions at Yazoo City, Miss. In the midst of heated battle Laffey landed a 12-pound howitzer and her crew. Despite enemy rifle fire which cut up the gun carriage and severed the rammer, Laffey bravely stood by his gun and contributed greatly to turning back the flerce Confederate assault. Seaman Laffey was awarded The Medal of Honor for his courageous stand. He died at Chelsea, Mass., March 22 1901

 

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