Edward C. Calffoot
Edward Clifford Kalbfus (born November 29, 1877 in Mauch Chunk , Pennsylvania , † September 6, 1954 in Newport , Rhode Island ) was an admiral in the United States Navy . He was one of the few who has served twice as president of Naval War College . In 1944 he was a member of the US Navy investigative court ( "Naval Court of Inquiry" ), which examined the circumstances of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
Life
Early years
Edward Kalbfus was born to Daniel Kalbfus and Mary E. Jones Kalbfus in what is now Jim Thorpe, the administrative seat of Carbon County , Pennsylvania. He attended Albright College in Reading before enrolling at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis , Maryland in 1895 . He was a very active athlete there, playing football and captaining the first year baseball team . In addition to the training trips on the sailing training ship Monongahela , the young midshipman was transferred to the battleship USS Oregon (BB-3) in June 1898 due to the Spanish-American War . During this conflict he took part in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba , where he witnessed the sinking of the Spanish cruiser Reina Mercedes . After the sea blockade of Havana was over, he was able to return to the Naval Academy and finish his studies in 1899.
With the rank of Ensign he participated in the suppression of the Filipino independence movement and helped to evacuate US civilians from the scenes of the Russo-Japanese War . In 1905 Kalbfus became an instructor at the Naval Academy. At the end of May 1906 he was ordered to the USS Newark , which was stationed in the port of Havana for the following months to examine the American interests of Cuban politics. The following November, Kalbfus took up the post of Gunnery Officer on the USS Kansas , which a year later became part of the so-called Great White Fleet that circumnavigated the globe. From 1910 Kalbfus performed various services within the US Atlantic Fleet : He was adjutant to the commanding admiral, officer for practice shooting matters and navigator on the Wyoming (BB-32), which was involved in the occupation of the Mexican port city of Veracruz in April 1914 . He was then assistant director of Gunnery Exercises and Engineering Competitions in the Navy Department in Washington, DC
First World War
When the US entered World War I , he became captain of the USS Pocahontas (SP-3044). This 10,881 GRT transport ship sailed under the name Princess Irene for the shipping company Norddeutscher Lloyd and was interned in the port of New York City when the war began . In April 1916 she was finally put into service by the US Navy under a different name and transported American soldiers to France . Edward Kalbfus was awarded the Navy Cross because he saved the ship from sinking by the German submarine U 151 . Towards the end of the war he became the commanding officer of the USS Iowa (BB-4).
Interwar period
Kalbfus commanded various destroyer squadrons in the Atlantic before he was appointed chief of the Fleet Maintenance Department, the office of Admiral Robert E. Coontz , then Chief of Naval Operations , in 1921 . He then became the first captain of the Omaha- class cruiser Trenton (CL-11), which officially entered service on April 19, 1924. In 1926 he became a student at Naval War College , which he successfully graduated the following year, and became a faculty member in the department of logistics, personnel and supplies. In 1929 he became the commanding officer of the USS California (BB-44) and from 1930 Chief of Staff under the then command of the battleship fleet of the US Pacific Fleet in San Diego , California . He was then promoted to Rear Admiral and worked as director of the Department of Strategic Planning in the Navy Department, later as commander of the destroyer fleet.
From June 1934 to December 1936 he was President of the Naval War College in Newport , Rhode Island , and then until June 1939 commanding admiral of the battleship fleet of the US Pacific Fleet. During this time Kalbfus was promoted to Vice Admiral and discovered an article in an issue of Life Magazine about a prototype amphibious tank. Kalbfus knew of the discussions taking place in the ministry about a new type of amphibious warfare and passed this information on to his superiors without knowing that this vehicle, later called " Landing Vehicle Tracked ", would be decisive for the war.
Subsequently, he was again President of the Naval War College until November 1942.
Second World War
Due to the outbreak of war in Europe and the resulting submarine warfare in the Atlantic , Kalbfus became the commander of the local naval base in addition to his training activities. He founded an anti-aircraft training facility and coordinated the installation of anti-aircraft batteries in the Newport area. For this achievement he was awarded the Legion of Merit and he was retired with the rank of admiral .
On June 13, 1944, the 78th Congress of the United States approved a US Navy investigative court ("Naval Court of Inquiry"), which should analyze the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and should prepare a corresponding report . Navy Secretary James Forrestal appointed Admiral I on July 13. R. Orin Murfin as chairman and alongside Vice Admiral i. R. Adolphus Andrews and Captain Harold Biesemeier of the Judge Advocate General's Corps , including Edward Kalbfus as members of that commission. During the investigation, which ran from July 20 to October 20, 1944, 1,397 pages were logged. In contrast to the Roberts Commission convened by President Roosevelt , the Naval Commission exonerated Admiral Husband Kimmel , as he chose the level of readiness of the fleet according to the information available to him. Particular emphasis was placed on the fact that the ships' anti-aircraft guns were ready for action and immediately opened fire when the attack began, while the army's anti-aircraft batteries sometimes waited for hours for ammunition. The then Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Harold Stark, on the other hand, was heavily criticized because he had not foreseen the possibility of an attack and Pearl Harbor was not mentioned as a possible target in his war warning.
After the commission of inquiry he was still a member of the General Board of the Navy and held the office of President of the Naval Historical Center before 1946 could finally take his retirement.
retirement
Kalbfus spent his retirement in Middletown , Rhode Island, where he was very active as president of the Newport Family Service Society in 1949 . He was also a member of the Cruising Club of America , Newport Country Club , Army and Navy Club and the American Battle Monuments Commission .
Edward Clifford Kalbfus died on September 6, 1954 in Newport and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC. His wife Syria Brown Kalbfus died on February 22, 1960 and was buried next to her husband. The couple had no children.
Awards
During his military career he was awarded numerous medals. Among his awards are among the Navy Cross , the Legion of Merit , the American Defense Medal , the Philippine Campaign Medal , the World War One Victory Medal , the Mexican Service Medal and the Sampson Medal , also known as West Indies Naval Campaign Medal known is. His only foreign award is the Portuguese Order of Avis .
Web links
- Arlington National Cemetery (English)
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Calf, Edward C. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Calf, Edward Clifford |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American admiral |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 29, 1877 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mauch Chunk , Pennsylvania |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 6, 1954 |
| Place of death | Newport , Rhode Island |