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First Name: Albert

Last Name: Gleaves

Birthplace: Nashville, TN, USA

Gender: Male

Branch: Navy (present)

Rating:





Date of Birth: 01 January 1858

Date of Death: 06 January 1937

Rank or Rate: Admiral

Years Served: 1877-1921
Albert Gleaves

   
Graduate, U.S. Naval Academy, Class of 1877

Engagements:
•  Spanish-American War (1898)
•  World War I (1914 - 1918)

Biography:

Albert Gleaves

Admiral, U.S. Navy

Albert Gleaves was born in Nashville, TN, on 1 January 1858. Gleaves graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1877. After serving on board USSĀ Hartford and Trenton, he was appointed an Ensign in 1881. Assigned to many ships and stations, he commanded USS Cushing during the Spanish-American War and later the battleship USS North Dakota.

Promoted to Rear Admiral in 1915, in World War I he commanded the Cruiser and Transport Force. For his outstanding contribution he was awarded the Army and Navy Distinguished Service Medals.

On 1 September 1919, Gleaves was promoted to the four-star rank of Admiral and Commanded the Asiatic Fleet. While serving at the Naval Ordnance Proving Ground, Admiral Gleaves made outstanding contributions in the field of gunnery and torpedoes. While carrying out some tests on torpedo steering devices he changed these weapons from instruments of luck into instruments of precision. The gear which he tested in Cushing provided the imprints which made the torpedo the "terrible weapon" of World War I.

In spite of a life of constant action in war and peace, he found time to write a biography of Captain James Lawrence; the History of the Cruiser and Transport Force, and the Life of an American Sailor, William Hensley Emory, Rear Admiral, USN. After a most distinguished career, Admiral Gleaves retired from the Navy in 1921.

Honors

The destroyer USS Gleaves (DD-423) was named after him.

Quote

"To seamen a ship becomes endowed with human virtues and faults; she ceases to be a mere inanimate thing."

Death and Burial

Admiral Albert Gleaves died on 6 January 1937 in Haverford, PA, a few days after his 79th birthday. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA, in Section 3.



Honoree ID: 525   Created by: MHOH

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