WILLIAM M WOOD DD 715

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 WILLIAM M. WOOD DD-715
Commissioned 24 November 1945
USS WILLIAM M. WOOD DDR-715
Reclassified Radar Picket Destroyer (DDR) 9 April 1953
USS WILLIAM M. WOOD DD-715
Reverted to Destroyer (DD) 1 July 1964
Decommissioned 1 December 1976

Struck from Naval Register 1 December 1976
Sunk as target March 1983

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.

William M. Wood DD-715 / DDR-715 Covers Page 1 (1946-1976)

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	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

1st Commissioning November 24 1945 to September 30 1952

Locy Type
2(n)

1946-01-28

As DD-715

2nd Commissioning June 6 1953 to December 1 1976

Locy Type 2

1957-11-24

As DDR-715

Locy Type
2(n+) (USS)

1965-11-06

As DD-715. Listed in USCS Catalog as 2n+...Parentheses clearly there

Locy Type
2t(n+u) (USS)

1976-10-21

As DD-715. Welcome to Norfolk, cachet by Tazewell G. Nicholson

Locy Type
9efu

1956-04-02

As DDR-715

Locy Type
LDPS 2t(n+u)

1976-11-22

As DD-715. Last Day Postal Service, cachet by Tazewell G. Nicholson

Locy Type
LDPS 9eft(nu)

1976-11-22

As DD-715. Last Day Postal Service, cachet by Tazewell G. Nicholson

Other Information

NAMESAKE - William Maxwell Wood (May 27, 1819 – March 1, 1880) was an officer and surgeon in the United States Navy in the middle 1800s. He became the first Surgeon-General of the U.S. Navy in 1871, with the equivalent rank of Commodore after rising to Chief of the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in the years following the American Civil War. In that role, Wood was instrumental in increasing the stature of the Naval Surgeon, by championing a bill eventually passed by Congress that increased the rank and compensation of physicians in the Navy, enabling the Navy to attract and recruit more qualified physicians.Wood is most remembered in U.S. Naval history for his daring journey through Mexico in 1846 at the onset of the Mexican-American War, where he eluded detection and capture as a U.S. spy in enemy territory and successfully provided vital intelligence leading to the possession of California by the Pacific Squadron, as well as providing intelligence information to the Secretary of the Navy in Washington regarding Mexican fortifications and military operations. Wood was also an accomplished writer, and authored three books chronicling his voyages with the Pacific and East India Squadrons, and his ideas on improving the U.S. Navy, as well as many literary articles for notable publications of his day. {DANFS}

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