BABBITT AG 102
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.
- Wickes (Tattnall) Class Destroyer
- USS BABBITT DD-128
Commissioned October 24 1919 - Decommissioned June 15 1922
Recommissioned April 4 1930 - October 20 1933
Recommissioned May 15 1935
- USS BABBITT AG-102
Reclassified Miscellaneous Auxiliary (AG) June 10 1945
Decommissioned January 25 1946
Struck from Naval Register February 25 1946
Sold June 5 1946 and broken up for scrap
Keel Laid February 19 1918 - Launched September 30 1918
This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each incarnation of the ship (ie, for each entry in the "Ship Name and Designation History" section). 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.
- Babbitt Covers Page 1 (1931-44)
Postmarks
This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each incarnation of the ship (ie, for each entry in the "Ship Name and Designation History" section). 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 Close-Up Image |
Thumbnail Link To Full Cover Image |
|---|
2nd Commissioning April 4 1930 to October 20 1933
|
Locy Type |
1931-09-08 |
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As DD-128
|
Locy Type |
1933-12-25
|
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As DD-128
Add-on cachet by Bruce D. Liddell
|
Locy Type |
1934-01-16 |
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 |
Posted while in Rotating Reserve...Post Office open through January 5 1935
|
Locy Type |
1934-11-29 |
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As DD-128
Cachet by Leslie Onzay and Emil A. Thurman. Cover bears a seal of unknown origin but records indicate that Leslie Onzay may have been New Jersey State Prisoner #13760 and this seal might have been from that facility.
|
Locy Type |
1934-11-29 |
 |
|
As DD-128
Cachet by Leslie Onzay and Emil A. Thurman. Cover bears a seal of unknown origin but records indicate that Leslie Onzay may have been New Jersey State Prisoner #13760 and this seal might have been from that facility.
3rd Commissioning May 15 1935 to January 25 1946
|
Locy Type |
1935-07-31 |
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As DD-128. Cachet by Richard H. Green, sponsored by the Stephen Decatur Chapter No. 4, USCS
|
Locy Type |
1935-09-09 |
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As DD-128
|
Locy Type |
1935-09-30 |
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As DD-128. Launching Anniversary cachet by Clarence E. Reid
|
Locy Type |
1936-04-04 |
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As DD-128
|
Locy Type |
1941-02-17 |
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As DD-128
|
Locy Type |
1939-05-05 |
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As DD-128
|
Locy Type |
1939-05-30 |
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As DD-128
Memorial Day, cachet by C. Wright Richell
|
Locy Type F |
1935-08-30 |
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As DD-128
Add-on cachet by Bruce D. Liddell
|
Locy Type F |
1940-04-15 |
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As DD-128
Cover sponsored by Henrik Wilson (RCD 174) and the Moffett Chapter #6, USCS, R/S marking on back.
|
Locy Type Fz |
1941-08-02 |
 |
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As DD-128
|
Locy Type Fz |
1944-07-18 |
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As DD-128
|
Locy Type |
1936-04-04 |
 |
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As DD-128
|
Locy Type |
1935-09-30 |
 |
 |
As DD-128
Launching Anniversary cachet by Clarence E. Reid
|
Locy Type |
1935-09-30 |
 |
|
As DD-128
Launching Anniversary cachet by Clarence E. Reid
|
Locy Type |
1941-09-30 |
 |
 |
Hobby Shop fake cancel
|
Locy Type |
1936-04-04 |
 |
|
As DD-128
Other Information
BABBITT earned 1 Battle Star for World War II service
NAMESAKE - Fitz Henry Babbitt (October 10 1790 - January 14 1815)
Babbitt was appointed a Midshipman in the Navy on April 2 1804. He accepted his Warrant on May 28 1804 and entered into service on board the 32-gun frigate, ESSEX, that same day. He served in ESSEX and in the bomb ketch SPITFIRE in the Mediterranean Sea between 1804 and 1806. Returning home to The United States in SPITFIRE in August 1806, Midshipman Babbitt took up duty in the frigate CHESAPEAKE in 1807 and had charge of her quarterdeck guns on the occasion of the outrage that HMS LEOPARD committed against the American flag on June 22 1807. He was appointed an acting Lieutenant and ordered to the brig ARGUS on February 1 1810. The aspiring officer cruised the waters along the east coast of The United States in ARGUS until late in October, at which time he was furloughed. Babbitt received his Lieutenant's commission on March 4 1811, with seniority to date from June 5 1810. On February 19 1812, he received orders to NAUTILUS and served in her until July 17 1812 when a British squadron built around the 64-gun ship-of-the-line HMS AFRICA and the frigates HMS SHANNON and HMS AEOLUS captured NAUTILUS off the northern New Jersey coast. Lt. Babbitt spent several weeks as a prisoner of war in Halifax, Nova Scotia, before being exchanged. Following his return in the fall of 1812, he was assigned to the frigate ADAMS on November 30 1812 and helped in the futile effort to get that ship ready for sea after her modification into a sloop of war. Though the work was completed by the end of 1812, the British had ADAMS blockaded in Chesapeake Bay by then, and she remained so until early in 1814. Babbitt’s assignment to ADAMS, however, lasted only until the spring of 1813. On April 6 1813, he received orders to the frigate UNITED STATES; but those orders were apparently changed later in the month, and he went to Sackett’s Harbor along with the officers and men of the blockaded ADAMS. In September 1813, Lt. Babbitt again received orders to UNITED STATES to serve as that ship’s First Lieutenant. UNITED STATES, however, languished at New London along with her recent prize, MACEDONIAN, by then also in American service, and the sloop of war HORNET under a blockade imposed by a powerful British squadron. In the spring of 1814, the frigate’s commanding officer, Captain Stephen Decatur, Jr., received a posting to command the 44-gun frigate PRESIDENT, and took the crew of UNITED STATES with him to man his new command. Thus, Lt. Babbitt came to be PRESIDENT’s First Lieutenant. Once again, Babbitt found himself assigned to a warship unable to get to sea because of a strong blockade. The frigate remained hemmed in at New York for the rest of 1814. Not until January 1815 did conditions ripen for PRESIDENT to attempt her escape to sea. Though the peace treaty had been signed in Ghent, Belgium, in December 1814, word had not reached the Americas, and hostilities continued in the western hemisphere for some weeks. Thus, when PRESIDENT made her move for the open sea, British warships stood ready to engage her. In her breakout attempt on January 14 1815, PRESIDENT ran afoul of another squadron of British ships comprising HMS ENDYMION, HMS MAJESTIC, HMS POMONE, and HMS TENEDOS. During the ensuing fight, PRESIDENT managed to inflict sufficient damage on HMS ENDYMION to force her out of the struggle, but the unequal contest exacted a greater toll from the American ship. Unable to outrun her other adversaries because of hull damage sustained during a grounding soon after sailing, PRESIDENT finally succumbed to the combined attention of the three remaining British ships after a six-hour exchange in which she lost 24 of her crewmen and three of her Lieutenants. Lt. Babbitt was among the latter
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