1942 MAE WEIGAND Handpainted AVIATION METALSMITH Commission Destroyer USS DUNCAN

1942 MAE WEIGAND Handpainted AVIATION METALSMITH Commission Destroyer USS DUNCAN

Mae Weigand Hand Painted Cacheted Cover
APR 19, 1942, US NAVY CDS
AVIATION METALSMITH Symbol Cachet Design
US NAVY CRUISER
Commissioning the USS Duncan

Here is some basic information on this ship.

USS Duncan (DD-485), a Gleaves-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Silas Duncan, who was severely wounded by enemy fire which caused the loss of his right arm during the Battle of Lake Champlain on 11 September 1814. Duncan was launched on 20 February 1942 by Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Kearny, New Jersey; sponsored by Mrs. D. C. Thayer. The ship was commissioned on 16 April 1942, Lieutenant Commander E. B. Taylor in command.

In the resulting Battle of Cape Esperance, Duncan pumped several salvos into a cruiser, then shifted fire to a destroyer, at the same time maneuvering radically to avoid enemy fire and that from her own forces, who were now joining in the attack. She got off two torpedoes toward her first target, Furutaka, and kept firing until hits she had received put her out of action. The commanding officer ordered the bridge, isolated by fire, abandoned, and the wounded lowered into life rafts. The men on board attempted to beach the ship on Savo Island, but then, believing she might yet be saved, continued to fight the fires until power failed, when they abandoned ship. Destroyer McCalla rescued 195 men from the shark-infested waters and made an attempt to salvage Duncan, but she sank on 12 October 1942, about 6 miles (10 km) north of Savo Island.

Mint or Near Mint Condition
Please see the scans in each listing.

Mae Weigand was a First Day Cover Cachet Artist who began her work in the late 1930's. Cachet artists emerged a few years after the United States Post Office started to issue FDC's to interested parties and Philatelic's. Mae Weigand was one of a handful of artists to commercialize the movement around the mid-century. The most practical medium used was graphite/pencil, pen and ink, or thinned paint, and are also known as Hand Painted Cachets or Hand Painted First Day Covers..