July 2004 Cover |
by Steve Shay |
|
USS HAMILTON |
|
|
Have a Happy Fourth of July! This cover was cancelled on the USS Hamilton, a destroyer, DD-141, on July 4, 1935. The cancel is a Type F (Fancy), first used on this date. It is also known with "First Day/This Cancel" between the killer bars. The cachet is a P. J. Ickeringill design. His cachets often were identified with "Peejay" in the cachet design (as this one is.) His signature "Peejay" is also on the reverse. P.J. is a charter member of USCS, membership number 4. This cachet is hand colored and can also be found without the hand coloring. The Hamilton was one of many flush deck destroyers built as World War I was ending. The ship was launched at the Mare Island Navy Shipyard in California on January 15, 1919 and commissioned in November. With the end of the war, there was no longer a need for so many destroyers as the Navy and Army reduced in size and Hamilton was one of many decommissioned during the next few years. Hamilton went into storage in July 1922. She was pulled out of storage and recommissioned in 1930 and was serving with the Scouting Force based in Newport, Rhode Island when this cover was cancelled. After conversion to a minesweeper, DMS-18, in 1941, Hamilton served during World War II as a convoy escort between the Americas, participated in Operation Torch during the landing in North Africa and later service in the Pacific Theater. The 26 year old ship was decommissioned in October 1945 after earning 9 battle stars and sold for scrap. Hamilton covers dated after recommissioning in 1930 are quite common though covers found during the WWII years are not too common. Hamilton had a post office established in November 1919, closing in July 1922 when decommissioned the first time though there are no reported covers from this period. |
