Alden, James (31 March 1810–06 February 1877), naval officer, was born in Portland, Maine (then part of Massachusetts), the son of James Alden, a ship owner, and Elizabeth Tate. Nothing is known of his early life or education, and no information is available about his marriage or children, if any....
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Alden, James (1810-1877), naval officer
Kenneth J. Blume
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Allen, William Henry (1784-1813), U.S. naval officer and hero of the War of 1812
Ira Dye
Allen, William Henry (21 October 1784–18 August 1813), U.S. naval officer and hero of the War of 1812, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, the son of militia general William Allen, a veteran of the Revolution, and Sarah Jones, sister of William Jones, future governor of Rhode Island. William Henry’s parents were prosperous members of Providence society and intended for him to follow a civilian career. His early education provided him with a good grounding in penmanship and mathematics (the latter proved useful in his naval career) and also with considerable skill as an artist. He made very competent sketches in his letters and the blank pages of his journals and did pen and ink portraits of his family. His only surviving likeness, a profile portrait, is probably based on a sketch done by Allen himself....
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Ammen, Daniel (1819-1898), naval officer, author, and inventor
Michael Hausenfleck
Ammen, Daniel (16 May 1819–11 July 1898), naval officer, author, and inventor, was born in Brown County, Ohio, the son of David Ammen and Sally Houtz, farmers. While still a boy, Ammen exerted an unanticipated influence on later national affairs when he pulled his friend and schoolmate ...
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Andrews, Philip (1866-1935), naval officer
Jeffery M. Dorwart
Andrews, Philip (31 March 1866–18 December 1935), naval officer, was born in New York City, the son of Phoebe D. Andrews, a Jersey City schoolteacher (father’s name unknown). Andrews completed his U.S. Naval Academy course in 1886 and entered the navy in the early stage of conversion from wood and sail to steel and steam-powered warships. About this same time he married Clara Fuller; they had one child. During the 1890s Andrews served on a number of these new steel men-of-war, including the armored cruiser ...
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Bailey, Theodorus (1805-1877), U.S. Navy rear admiral
John B. Hattendorf
Bailey, Theodorus (12 April 1805–10 February 1877), U.S. Navy rear admiral, was born at Chateaugay near Plattsburg, New York, the son of William Bailey, a judge, and Phoebe Platt. He was the nephew and namesake of Theodorus Bailey (1758–1828), who was a congressman, U.S. senator, and postmaster of New York City. Raised in New York State on the western shore of Lake Champlain, the scion of a prominent family, Bailey attended Plattsburg Academy and joined the U.S. Navy only four years after Commodore ...
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Bainbridge, William (1774-1833), naval officer
Linda M. Maloney
Bainbridge, William (07 May 1774–27 June 1833), naval officer, was born in Princeton, New Jersey, the son of Absalom Bainbridge, a physician, and Mary Taylor. His parents and grandparents sided with the king’s forces in the revolutionary war, and Dr. Bainbridge served as surgeon to a Loyalist regiment. This resulted in the confiscation of the family property and probably affected William Bainbridge’s view of himself: he was both conservative in politics and touchy—suspicious that, in the eyes of others, his family background cast a shadow on his own loyalty....
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Barney, Joshua (1759-1818), seaman and naval officer
William M. Fowler
Barney, Joshua (06 July 1759–01 December 1818), seaman and naval officer, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of William Barney and Frances Holland, farmers. Barney left school at age ten and was sent by his father to Alexandria, Virginia, to be put in the care of a local merchant. After spending nearly one year in Virginia Barney returned to Baltimore, where he signed on as a crew member aboard a local pilot boat....
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Barron, James (1769-1851), naval officer
Linda M. Maloney
Barron, James (1769–21 April 1851), naval officer, was born in Virginia, the younger of two naval sons of James Barron, a merchant captain and officer of the Virginia navy in the Revolution, and Jane Cowper. The older son, Samuel Barron, also commanded in the U.S. Navy and was senior to James. James Barron began his sea service before the age of twelve on board his father’s ship in the Virginia service. He was commissioned a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy in 1798, presumably having sailed in merchant vessels in the intervening years, since he would be known throughout the service for his masterful seamanship. In 1790 he married Elisabeth Mosely Armistead, another Virginian; the Barrons’ first child, Jane, was born in 1791....
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Barry, John (1745?–13 September 1803), shipmaster and naval officer
Robert G. Baker
Barry, John (1745?–13 September 1803), shipmaster and naval officer, was born in County Wexford, Ireland. His parentage is uncertain: his father was a farmer, and his mother’s maiden name was Kelly. Apprenticed on a Wexford merchantman as a cabin boy in 1755, he diligently applied himself to the naval profession. Philadelphia became his permanent home in 1760; he became a devoted patriot and successful shipmaster. On 31 October 1767 he married Mary Cleary. The union produced no children before she died in 1774. In November 1775 he relinquished command of the 200-ton ...
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Bennett, Floyd (1890-1928), aviator
Vincent P. Norris
Bennett, Floyd (25 October 1890–25 April 1928), aviator, was born at Truesdale Hill, Town of Caldwell (now Lake George), New York, the son of Wallace Bennett and Henrietta (maiden name unknown). At age nine he went to live with his uncle and aunt in Warrensburg, New York, where he attended public schools and did farm work. He left school at age seventeen and worked for a year in a lumber camp near Lake George to earn money to attend an automobile school in Schenectady. He then worked at the People’s Garage in Ticonderoga. He eventually became co-owner but later sold his share and moved to Hague, New York, where he was employed as a mechanic in R. F. Bolton’s garage. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy on 15 December 1917, serving at naval air stations at Bay Shore, New York; Hampton Roads, Virginia; and Pensacola, Florida. In 1918 he married Cora Lillian Orkins of Ticonderoga; they had no children....
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Bennett, Floyd (1890-1928)
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Floyd Bennett Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-103564).
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Benson, William Shepherd (1855-1932), naval officer
Mark Russell Shulman
Benson, William Shepherd (25 September 1855–20 May 1932), naval officer, was born in Bibb County, Georgia, the son of Richard Aaron Benson and Catherine Elizabeth Brewer, planters. Benson was one of the first men from the Reconstruction South to attend the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating forty-third in a class of forty-six in 1877. After first serving on the ...
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Biddle, James (1783-1848), naval officer
Christine F. Hughes
Biddle, James (18 February 1783–01 October 1848), naval officer, was born north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Charles Biddle, an affluent mercantile entrepreneur and politician, and Hannah Shepard. Biddle attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he developed a lifelong love of literature. He and his younger brother, Edward, received their midshipmen’s warrants on 14 February 1800 and joined the frigate ...
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Biddle, Nicholas (1750-1778), naval officer
James W. Stennett
Biddle, Nicholas (10 September 1750–07 March 1778), naval officer, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of William Biddle, a merchant, and Mary Scull, a map purveyor. With only a basic academy education, he entered the merchant service at the age of thirteen on the ...
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Blakeley, Johnston (1781-1814), naval officer
Charles E. Brodine
Blakeley, Johnston ( October 1781– October 1814), naval officer, was born near the village of Seaford, County Down, Ireland, the son of John Blakeley, a merchant. (His mother’s name is unknown.) In 1783 the Blakeley family emigrated to the United States, settling in Wilmington, North Carolina. Johnston’s mother and his only sibling, a brother, died after their arrival in Wilmington. In 1797 he enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to study law. The death of his father in October 1797 and the destruction by fire in 1798 of the properties his father had bequeathed him prompted Blakeley to leave school and seek a career in the U.S. Navy....
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Bloch, Claude Charles (1878-1967), naval officer
Rodney P. Carlisle
Bloch, Claude Charles (12 July 1878–06 October 1967), naval officer, was born in Woodbury, Kentucky, the son of Adolph Bloch, a merchant. His mother’s name is unknown. From 1892 to 1895 he attended Ogden College in Kentucky and entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1895. As a cadet, he served aboard the battleship ...
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Boorda, Jeremy Michael (1938-1996), admiral and chief of naval operations
John C. Fredriksen
Boorda, Jeremy Michael (28 November 1938–16 May 1996), admiral and chief of naval operations, was born in South Bend, Indiana, on 26 November 1938, the son of Herman Boorda, a clothing merchant, and Gertrude Frank Wallis Boorda. At the age of sixteen he dropped out of high school and enlisted in the navy after lying about his age. Thereafter he took readily to discipline and was assigned to the Naval Air Technical School in Norman, Oklahoma. In March 1957 he married Bettie Ray Moran; they had four children....
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Boorda, Jeremy Michael (1938-1996)
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Jeremy Michael Boorda. Courtesy of the United States Navy.
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Boyington, Gregory (1912-1988), Marine Corps fighter pilot
David MacGregor
Boyington, Gregory (04 December 1912–11 January 1988), Marine Corps fighter pilot, was born in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, the son of Guy Boyington and Grace Hallenbeck, apple ranchers. He earned a degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Washington in 1934, and that year he married Helene Clark. Before divorcing in 1941, they had three children, one of whom became an Air Force fighter pilot in the Vietnam War. After a year with Boeing Aircraft, Boyington entered the Marine Corps as an aviation cadet in 1936....
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Boyington, Gregory (1912-1988)
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Gregory Boyington. Courtesy of the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-102293).
