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Battleship Cove Naval Museum
Fall River, Massachusetts
U.S.S. Swanson
display dedicated at the
Destroyermen's Museum at Fall River,
Mass.
U.S.S.
Swanson DD443
Crowd of U.S.S. Swanson Crew
Association and friends gather aboard the
U.S.S. Joseph Kennedy, Jr. for the
dedication ceremony on May 29, 2006
Jack Sloan presents Richard Angelini,
Assistant Curator, with
an album of
photos of the ship and crew during the war
Charles
Hall, grandson of Lulie
Hall Swanson, widow of Claude Swanson, speaking at the
ceremony. Mrs. Swanson launched the U.S.S. Swanson and
was present at the commissioning. Mr. Hall recalled
the great contribution that Secretary of the Navy Claude
A. Swanson made to the building up of the navy in the
years that he served first as a member (1911-1932) and
then chairman of the Senate Naval Affairs Committee and
later as Secretary of the Navy (1933-1939) under
President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Sec. Swanson counted
155 ships in the Navy when be became Secretary; when he
died in office in 1939 there were over 272 ships either
at sea or being constructed. |
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Asst. Curator Richard Angelini thanks the Association
for their gifts. Since the Swanson Association has been an early supporter of the Destroymen's Museum, their display will be permanent while artifacts from other ships will be shown on a rotating basis.
The display case
contains a flag, a uniform shirt, a battle chart of the
Admiralty Islands donated by Maurice Dondis, a brass ashtray donated by Charles Hall and a silver napkin ring procured by Jack Sloan. Also included is the program from the launching of the U.S.S. Swanson on Nov. 2, 1940 as well as other items. After the ceremony the museum was presented with a foul weather jacket by Bill Clancey. These artifacts will be on permanent display.
For photos of the ships displayed at Battleship Cove, click on the links below. |
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The Swanson Association would like to thank Assistant
Curator Richard Angelini and Executive Director Ron Catudal
and all the staff at Battleship Cove and the Destroyermen's
Museum for their cooperation in providing a permanent place
to commemorate the U.S.S. Swanson and its crew. We
salute their dedication to passing on this World War II
history to future generations.
The Association members had time to tour Battleship Cove. It was especially meaningful to see the battleship U.S.S. Massachusetts (in the background) which came to the assistance of the Swanson at the Battle off Casablanca.
See Mr. Earl Coombs's photos of the event
See more of Battleship
Cove
Link to
the Museum's Web Site
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