Arleigh Burke

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Arleigh Burke 1951

Arleigh Albert Burke (born October 19, 1901 in Boulder (Colorado) , † January 1, 1996 in Bethesda (Maryland) ) was an admiral in the United States Navy . He served in both World War II and the Korean War .

Life

education

Burke graduated from the US Naval Academy on June 8, 1923 . Burke then served on battleships and destroyers , and earned a Masters of Science degree in engineering from the University of Michigan . At the beginning of the Second World War , however, Burke served on land, only after his own efforts he was transferred to the Pacific Fleet.

Second World War

In the Pacific War he commanded various destroyer groups under Admiral Halsey : in succession these were Destroyer Division 43, Destroyer Division 44, Destroyer Squadron 12 and Destroyer Squadron 23 . The latter was known as "Little Beavers" and covered the landings on Bougainville in November 1943. In the following four months it was involved in 22 battles in which a Japanese cruiser, nine destroyers, a submarine and several smaller ones Units and about 30 aircraft were destroyed. Among other things, Burke took part in the naval battle at Empress Augusta Bay and the Battle of Cape St. George . As a destroyer leader, he was nicknamed "31-knot Burke" after damage to the boilers of the USS Spence in the latter battle had reduced the maximum speed of Burke's formation to this value. In March 1944, Burke became chief of staff to the commander of Task Force 58 , Admiral Marc Mitscher . As chief of staff of the TF 58's fast aircraft carrier formations, he was promoted to commodore. Two of the flagships were hit by Kamikaze pilots while Burke was on board, USS Bunker Hill and USS Enterprise .

Korean War

At the beginning of the Korean War in 1950, Burke was appointed by then Chief of Naval Operations , Admiral Forrest Sherman , as deputy chief of staff of the US Navy in the Far East. In 1951 he became commander of Kreuzer Division 5, and in July of the same year he was a member of the Armistice Commission.

Chief of Naval Operations

In 1952 he returned to the USA and was head of the strategic planning department at the CNO until 1954. In April 1954 he went back to sea and commanded the cruiser division 6 until he became commander of the destroyer units of the Atlantic Fleet in January 1955 . In August 1955 he became CNO and was responsible, among other things, for the modernization of the Navy destroyer fleet in the FRAM program . He remained CNO for three terms, longer than any admiral before him. He retired on August 1, 1961.

retirement

In his retirement, Burke advised the Newport News shipyard and Texaco, among others . He was also involved in setting up the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) at Georgetown University in Washington DC and headed it for about 15 years.

Burke died in 1996 at the age of 94 at the Bethesda Navy Hospital .

His awards include a. the Navy Distinguished Service Medal , the Navy Cross , the Legion of Merit and the Purple Heart .

The destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) was named after Burke in 1991 (when he was still alive, which is very unusual ) . This is the lead ship of the Arleigh Burke class . The Burke Iceland in the Amundsen Sea is named after him.

Awards

Selection of decorations, sorted based on the Order of Precedence of the Military Awards:

publication

literature

  • Douglas Hubbard (Ed.): The Best of Burke: Selections from the Wartime Dispatches, Battle Reports, Admonitions and Reflections of Admiral Arleigh A. Burke, USN (Ret) . The Admiral Nimitz Foundation, Fredericksburg (Texas), 1986.
  • Ken Jones; Hubert Kelley, Jr .: Admiral Arleigh (31-Knot) Burke: The Story of a Fighting Sailor. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis (Maryland), 2001 (originally Chilton Books 1962). ISBN 1-55750-018-5
  • Ken Jones: Destroyer Squadron 23: Combat Exploits of Arleigh Burke's Gallant Force. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1997 (first edition 1959). ISBN 1-55750-412-1

Web links

Commons : Arleigh Burke  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files