Felix Stump

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Felix Stump as Rear Admiral during the Second World War

Felix Budwell Stump (born December 15, 1894 in Parkersburg , Wood County , West Virginia , † June 13, 1972 in Bethesda , Montgomery County , Maryland ) was an American naval aviator and admiral in the US Navy , who last served from 1953 to 1958 in Personal union of commander-in-chief of the Pacific Command ( US Pacific Command ) and Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet ( US Pacific Fleet ) was.

Life

Training as a naval officer and time until World War II

After attending school in 1913, Stump began his officer training at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis , which he graduated in 1917. He then found use on board the gunboat USS Yorktown and after the intensification of the submarine war and the entry of the United States into World War I as a navigational officer of the protected cruiser USS Cincinnati . After the war he was aboard the Illinois class belonging unit battleship USS Alabama was added and then received a 1920 to 1921 Naval Air -Training at the Naval Air Station Naval Air Station Pensacola . This was followed by postgraduate studies in aerospace engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1922 , which he completed in 1924.

Thereupon Stump acted between 1923 and 1925 as naval aviation officer of Torpedo Squadron 2 on the naval coal transporter USS Jupiter, which was converted by the US Navy in 1922 into the first aircraft carrier of the USA USS Langley . After other uses he was from 1928 to 1929 commander of the cruiser scouting wing and between 1930 and 1931 officer in the staff of the cruiser commander of the scouting force . Having then found different uses, he served from 1936 to 1937 as commander ( Commanding Officer ) of reconnaissance bomber Season 2 (Scout Bombing Squadron 2) of the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga , and from 1938 to 1939 as a navigation officer of the aircraft carrier USS Lexington . After his promotion to frigate captain (commander) in 1940 he became first officer of the fleet aircraft carrier USS Enterprise .

Second World War

On September 20, 1941, he succeeded Frigate Captain Robert Perche McConnell in command of the USS Langley, which had now been converted into a seaplane carrier , in Manila Bay and remained in this role until January 13, 1942, after which Frigate Captain Robert Perche McConnell took command again. He then moved in January 1942 to the staff of the Commander of the US-Asia fleet ( US Asiatic Fleet ) and served as commander of the Joint Operations and message center of the Allied Air Command of USA, UK, the Netherlands and Australia ABDAIR (Allied American British Dutch and Australian Air Command) and the Joint High Command of the USA, Great Britain, Netherlands and Australia ABDACOM (American British Dutch and Australian High Command) . For his services there he was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal in 1943 .

On 17 February 1943 Stump was a sea captain (Captain) first commander of the aircraft carrier newly commissioned USS Lexington and remained in that post until his replacement by Captain Ernest Wheeler Litch on 10 April 1944. During this time, 1944 Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) transported. On May 14, 1944, he was awarded the Silver Star for his services against the Japanese- occupied islands of Tarawa , Abemama , Wake and Kwajalein in the period from September 18 to December 5, 1943 . As commander of the Task Unit 52.11.2 and the aircraft carrier division Carrier Division 24 , he was responsible for operations during the Battle of Saipan from the escort aircraft carrier USS Corregidor . They began on June 15, 1944 with the landing of US Marines on the southwest coast of Saipan and ended after three weeks with the conquest of the island by the Americans. For his military services in the period from June 14 to August 1, 1944 in the Battle of the Mariana Islands , he received the Legion of Merit for the first time on October 18, 1944 . He then remained in command of Carrier Division 24 and, as such, was also the commander of the Taffy II (Task Unit 77.4.2) , with which he was decisive for the preparation and support of the amphibious groups during the sea from October 18 to 29, 1944 and air battle in the Gulf of Leyte and Samar was responsible. For his services there he was awarded the Navy Cross for the first time on January 19, 1945 . Subsequently, as commander of what was now Task Unit 77.12.7 from December 12 to 17, 1944, he contributed significantly to the success of the landing and conquest of Mindoro and was awarded another Navy Cross for this in March 1945. He also received another Legion of Merit on April 30, 1945 for his services from September 1944 to April 1945 in the Battle of the Palau Islands and the Battle of Okinawa . On May 1, 1945 he was honored with a third Legion of Merit for his services from January 1 to 17, 1945 as commander of Task Unit 77.4.2 during the reconquest of the Philippines . Most recently, during his service as commander of Carrier Division 24, the escort aircraft carrier USS Marcus Island was his flagship .

Post-war period and promotion to admiral

In May 1945 Stump became chief of the Naval Air Technical Training Command ( NATTC ) and remained in this position until December 1948. Subsequently, in December 1948, he took over the post of Vice Admiral Patrick NL Bellinger as commander of the naval aviation units of the US Atlantic Fleet (Naval Air Forces US Atlantic Fleet ) and was promoted as such to Vice Admiral (Vice Admiral) . He stayed on this until March 1951 and was then replaced by Vice Admiral John J. Ballentine . He himself then took over the post of commander of the 2nd US fleet (US Second Fleet) in March 1951 and held this position until June 1953.

Subsequently, Stump was as Admiral on July 10, 1953 as the successor of Admiral Arthur W. Radford finally Supreme Commander of the US Pacific Command ( US Pacific Command ) . He held this post until his replacement by Admiral Harry D. Felt on July 31, 1958. On July 19, 1958, he was also the successor of Admiral Radford in personal union Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet ( US Pacific Fleet ) and was in this position on 14 January 1958 replaced by Admiral Maurice E. Curts , after the two functions were split after eleven years. In addition, he acted between August 29, 1953 and August 1, 1958 as the US military representative to the Pacific Pact established by the ANZUS Agreement , and from March 16, 1955 to August 1, 1958 as US military advisor to the SEATO , the so-called Manila Pact. For his services in these uses he was also awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal on June 25, 1958 , the second highest award of the US Navy after the Navy Cross. On August 1, 1958, he retired and was most recently serving as vice chairman and chief executive officer of the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge National Historical Park .

Stump died of complications from cancer at the National Naval Medical Center and was subsequently buried in Arlington National Cemetery . His only son, John Morgan Stump, emerged from his marriage to Elizabeth Smith Stump, who served as a corvette captain and military pilot in the US Navy and was killed in a plane crash on November 6, 1970.

The USS Stump , a Spruance-class destroyer, which entered service on August 19, 1978, was named in honor of Felix Stump .

Awards

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

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ USS Langley (AV-3) : Commanding Officers (navsource.org)
  2. ^ Lexington V (CV-16) on the Naval History and Heritage Command homepage
  3. ^ Corregidor (CVE-58) on the Naval History and Heritage Command homepage
  4. ↑ Manila Bay (CVE-61) on the Naval History and Heritage Command homepage
  5. ↑ Abbot II (DD-629) on the homepage of the Naval History and Heritage Command
  6. ↑ LCI (L) -759. 1944–1946 on the homepage of the Naval History and Heritage Command
  7. ↑ Marcus Island (CVE-77) on the Naval History and Heritage Command homepage
  8. ↑ Naval Air Force, US Atlantic Fleet on the Naval History and Heritage Command homepage
  9. ^ Wright II (CVL-49) on the homepage of the Naval History and Heritage Command
  10. ↑ Korean War: Chronology of US Pacific Fleet Operations, May – July 1953 on the homepage of the Naval History and Heritage Command
  11. ^ Secretaries of the Navy and Key United States Naval Officers, 1950 - 1975 on the homepage of the Naval History and Heritage Command
personal data
SURNAME Stump, Felix
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stump, Felix Budwell (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American naval aviator and admiral in the US Navy
DATE OF BIRTH December 15, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Parkersburg , Wood County , West Virginia
DATE OF DEATH June 13, 1972
Place of death Bethesda , Montgomery County , Maryland