|
|
|
More Additions to the Naval Institute Oral History Program
| Samuel L. Gravely, Jr., was one of the early line officers commissioned by the U.S. Navy and later the Navy’s first black commander, captain, rear admiral, and vice admiral. He was commissioned in 1944 through V-12 and had wartime service in the patrol craft PC 1264. Later shipboard duty included the Iowa , Toledo, Seminole, and Theodore E. Chandler. He commanded the Falgout, Taussig, and Jouett. Shore assignments were at the Naval War College, Defense Communications Agency, and the satellite communications program. Flag commands included Naval Communications Command, Cruiser-Destroyer Group Two, 11th Naval District, Third Fleet, and Defense Communications Agency. [more] |
 |
|
|
|
John B. “Dick” Buescher was a longtime civil servant who spent virtually all his professional career, 1941-81, working for the Navy. As a production engineer for the Bureau of Ordnance in the 1940s and 1950s he emphasized quality control and uniformity in the ammunition used by ships and aircraft. In the mid-1950s he moved to the Special Projects Office as it began developing the successful Polaris submarine–launched ballistic missile. The oral history emphasizes the relationship in Polaris production between the government and private contractors and offers insights on key individuals: William Raborn, Gordon Pehrson, and Levering Smith. [more]
|
|
|
|
| Rear Admiral Julian T. Burke, Jr., a 1940 Naval Academy graduate, served in battleships before attending Submarine School. He was a plank owner in the North Carolina. He had combat duty in the submarine Flying Fish. He later commanded the submarine Sablefish and the destroyer Harold J. Ellison. In the 1960s he was executive officer of Bancroft Hall at the Naval Academy and had several tours of duty in amphibious warfare. He ran a study that led to significant reorganization of the Naval Reserve in the 1970s and as Commander U.S. Naval Forces Japan was instrumental in getting a U.S. aircraft carrier homeported there. [more] |
|
|
|
| Captain Franklin F. Shellenbarger was a Navy enlisted man as a youth, serving as a radioman and signalman on board battleships, a four-stack destroyer, and in the commissioning crew of the light cruiser Helena. After leaving the service in 1941, he worked briefly in the aircraft industry, then became deck officer on board merchant ships. He was employed primarily by American Export Lines. He was briefly chief mate in the nuclear-powered Savannah and later was master of a number of cargo ships before leaving the sea in 1979. From 1994 to 2003 he was president of the Marine Society of New York. [more] |
|
|
|
| Rear Admiral Doniphan B. Shelton was among the Navy’s pioneers in night fighter operations and later served as a test pilot. He served as an enlisted man in battleships prior to attending the Naval Academy, from which he graduated in 1944. After wartime duty in the cruiser St. Louis he took flight training and then served in a number of fighter squadrons, culminating in command of VF-92 and Carrier Air Wing 17. Later commands included the ammunition ship Paricutin and amphibious assault ship Tripoli. As a flag officer he commanded U.S. Naval Forces Philippines, which hosted South Vietnamese refugees in 1975. [more] |
|
|
|
| Rear Admiral J. C. “Bill” Wylie was a destroyerman and naval strategist. As a junior officer in the 1930s he served under Captain Chester Nimitz in the heavy cruiser Augusta. During World War II he was first XO of the Fletcher, including participation in a hectic night surface action off Guadalcanal in November 1942. During the war he commanded the Trever and Ault and did pioneering work in destroyer CICs. He wrote on strategic subjects at the Naval War College and served on several staffs, DesFlot 1, CinCLantFlt, and SACLant. He was Deputy CinCUSNavEur and later Commandant of the First Naval District. [more] |
|
| |
|
|
| Among the best-known U.S. naval officers of the past half-century was Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., who made sweeping changes while Chief of Naval Operations from 1970 to 1974. This oral history complements his published memoir by focusing largely on the years leading up to his tenure as CNO. His sea duty was primarily in destroyers, including duty in the Robinson in the 1944 Battle of Surigao Strait and as commissioning skipper of the first guided missile frigate, Dewey. In the 1960s he was executive assistant to Secretary of the Navy Paul Nitze, established the OpNav systems analysis division, and commanded U.S. Naval Forces Vietnam. [more] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Oral History Mail/Fax order form.
More Recent Additions
Back to Oral History
back to top
|
|
|
