Laurence Allen Abercrombie

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Laurence Allen Abercrombie (born October 11, 1897 in Lawrence , Massachusetts , † May 3, 1973 in Bethesda , Maryland ) was an American Rear Admiral in the US Navy , who was awarded the Navy Cross three times during World War II highest award of the US Navy Department ( US Department of the Navy ) .

Life

Training as a naval officer, First World War and the interwar period

Abercrombie, son of John Andrew Abercrombie and his wife Mary Davenport Abercrombie, completed his education at Lawrence High School and then worked for the US Worsted Company for a year . After attending the renowned Phillips Academy in Andover , founded in 1778, he began his training as a naval officer at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis in June 1917 . During his training there, he was a member of the baseball team and the choir of the Naval Academy. After the entry of the United States into World War II he served between summer 1917 and 1918 as a Midshipman ( Midshipman ) on the battleships USS Delaware , USS Georgia , USS Nevada and USS Mississippi . After the war he continued his training at the US Naval Academy, which he completed on June 1, 1920 as a lieutenant at sea (Ensign) .

Abercrombie took part in the maiden voyage of the heavy cruiser USS New Orleans to Sweden , Denmark , the Netherlands and England in 1934

After completing officer training Abercrombie was aboard the USS Black Hawk added, the Tender destroyers of Destroyer Squadron of the US Atlantic Fleet ( US Atlantic Fleet ) . With this he took in 1923 on a drive from the Atlantic Ocean through the Suez Canal to US-Asia fleet ( US Asiatic Fleet ) part. After arriving in Shanghai in April 1923, he was first transferred to the gunboat USS Villalobos and three weeks later to the gunboat USS Isabel , the flagship of the commander of the patrol units on the Yangtze . In July 1924 he became an officer on the armored cruiser USS South Dakota , which was the flagship of the US Asia Fleet at the time, and during this time made landing and operational missions at Yantai in eastern China in November 1924 .

After his return to the United States in 1925 Abercrombie officer on the battleship in July USS Utah and took on that until July 1926 surgery operations in the Atlantic Ocean with the 2nd Battleship Division of the Enlightenment Fleet ( Scouting Fleet ) . From August 1926 to May 1928 he was French professor at the Department of Modern Languages ​​at the US Naval Academy and in the summer of 1927 he went to Tours to study . It was then used between July 1928 and January 1931 on the battleship USS Pennsylvania , the flagship of the Asian fleet. During this time he took part on November 10, 1928 at the coronation of Tennō Hirohito in the Kyōto Imperial Palace and in the flagship parade at Yokohama . After a use from April 1931 to August 1933 as an officer in the Navigation Office (Bureau of Navigation) of the US Navy Department ( US Department of the Navy ) , he became the shipyard of New York City ( Brooklyn Navy Yard ) offset, where he at entry of the heavy cruiser USS New Orleans . After commissioning on February 15, 1934, he took part in its maiden voyage to Sweden , Denmark , the Netherlands and England and was most recently communications officer of the USS New Orleans until May 1937 .

World War II, Post War and Retirement

In March 1941 he took over his first own ship command as commandant of the destroyer USS Drayton

In June 1937, Abercrombie returned to the US Naval Academy as a French lecturer in the Department of Modern Languages ​​and was seconded to the French Embassy in the summer of 1938 , where he improved his language skills and trained as an interpreter and translator for completed the French language. Subsequently, he was in June 1939 artillery officer on the battleship USS Arizona and then took over on March 21, 1941 as a lieutenant commander (Lieutenant Commander) commander of the destroyer USS Drayton his first ship command. There he was later promoted to frigate captain (Commander) and received after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 for the destruction of a ship of the Imperial Japanese Navy on December 24, 1941 the Navy Cross for the first time .

On June 21, 1942 Abercrombie was promoted to captain at sea (Captain) and took over on July 27, 1942 the post as commander of the 9th Destroyer Division (Destroyer Division 9) . In this use he was awarded a gold star instead of a second Navy Cross on March 20, 1943, for a use against enemy Japanese units on October 22, 1942 south of the Gilbert Islands . In July 1943, as section commander of the intervention group (Task Unit 62.7.2) , he was awarded a further gold star instead of a third Navy Cross for a deployment against units of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Forces on February 17, 1943 in the Solomon Islands . Then he was transferred in August 1943 to US Department of the Navy, where he in the Office of Naval intelligence, ONI ( Office of Naval Intelligence ) of the Chief of Naval Operations ( Chief of Naval Operations ) worked. After a use from April 1944 to April 1945 he was an officer at the Joint Chiefs of Staff ( Joint Chiefs of Staff ) and then officer for Abwrackkontrolle in the navy training school (Naval Training School) in San Francisco .

In August 1945, Abercrombie became the commandant of the heavy cruiser USS Chester

On August 7, 1945, Abercrombie became the commandant of the heavy cruiser USS Chester and remained in this use until January 1946. After the surrender of Japan on September 7, 1945, he was entrusted with the task of withdrawing troops from the Pacific.

Subsequently, in March 1946, he became director of the naval reserve program of the Potomac River Naval Command , from which the present-day Naval District Washington emerged . While there, he advocated that the veterans from Washington, DC, as well as from the states of Maryland and Virginia with their last active rank in the reserve. He then became Assistant Chief of Naval Operations (Naval Reserve) , Rear Admiral John E. Gingrich , in October 1946 , and was his assistant for planning and policy matters of the Naval Reserve until May 1949. He was then used from May 1949 to June 1951 as an officer in the office of the US Secretary of Defense .

On June 30, 1951 Jack was awarded the rank of Rear Admiral (Rear Admiral) on the retirement list (Retired List) was added and retired from active military service. He was married to Laurette Justine St. Laurent Abercrombie and was buried in the Saint Marys Catholic Cemetery in Barnesville after his death .

honors and awards

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

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ USS DRAYTON (DD-366): Commanding Officers in NavSource Online .
  2. ↑ USS CHESTER (CL / CA 27): Commanding Officers in NavSource Online .
personal data
SURNAME Abercrombie, Laurence Allen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American Rear Admiral in the United States Navy
DATE OF BIRTH October 11, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Lawrence , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH May 3rd 1973
Place of death Bethesda , Maryland