Rear Admiral Wayne E. Meyer is known as the “Father of Aegis,” the revolutionary combat system now standard in U.S. Navy surface warships for air and missile defense. Meyer enlisted in the Navy1943 when he was 17 years old and was commissioned through the Naval Reserve V-12 officer training program at the University of Kansas.
Meyer served in 1955–56 as executive officer of the radar picket destroyer escort USSStrickland (DER-324) and 1956–58 on the staff of Commander Destroyer Force Atlantic Fleet (DesLant). He attended the Naval Postgraduate School, 1958–60, and did further postgraduate work at MIT, 1960–61. His final shipboard tour was in 1961–63 as fire control officer and weapons officer in the guided-missile cruiser USS Galveston (CLG-3). From there, he reported to the Surface Missile Systems Project in Washington, D.C., 1963–67, and served 1967–70 at the Navy Surface Missile Systems Engineering Station (NSMSES), Port Hueneme, California.
Rear Admiral Meyer's longest tenure, 1970–83, was in the Advanced Surface Missile System, which became Aegis. From 1976 to 1983, he was project manager for the Aegis Shipbuilding Project in the Naval Sea Systems Command.
In this audio clip from his oral history, Rear Admiral Meyer provides a behind-the-scenes view of the technical challenges, and the dedicated personnel, that attended the birth of the fleet-transformative Aegis combat system.
For Rear Admiral Wayne E. Meyer's Oral History on the U.S. Naval Institute website, click here.
To read more about the Naval Institute Oral History Program, click here.
