STEPHEN POTTER DD 538

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.

USS STEPHEN POTTER DD-538
Commissioned October 21 1943 - Decommissioned September 21 1945
Recommissioned March 29 1951 - Decommissioned June 1958

Struck from Naval Register December 1 1972
Sold November 27 1973 and broken up for scrap

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 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.

Covers Page 1 (1944-56)

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 Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

1st Commissioning October 21 1943 to September 21 1945

Locy Type
2z

1944-10-25

Censored wartime (WWII) use

2nd Commissioning March 29 1951 to June 1958

Locy Type
FDPS 2

1951-05-10

First Day Postal Service

Locy Type
2 (B)

1956-07-24

Text cachet by B. Saunders Bullard

Other Information

STEPHEN POTTER earned 10 Battle Stars for WWII service

NAMESAKE - Ensign Stephen Potter, USN (December 25 1896 - April 25 1918).
Potter served with Naval Aviation Forces in Europe during World War I. Ensign Potter was credited with being the first American Naval Aviator to shoot down a German seaplane. He lost his life on April 25 1918, during the battle with four German planes over the North Sea.

If you have images or information to add to this page, then either contact the Curator or edit this page yourself and add it. See Editing Ship Pages for detailed information on editing this page.