Commander Bio:Albert Gleaves (1858-1937) was an admiral of the U.S. Navy (from 1919). One of the founding fathers of the 20th century United States Navy, Gleaves graduated from the Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1877, and then went on to command the Navy's first torpedo boat, Cushing, during the Spanish- American War. At the dawn of the century, Gleaves-a true pioneer of U.S. torpedo armament-was in charge of testing this type of weaponry, introducing its control equipment, and initiating torpedo production in America.
Just before World War I, Gleaves commanded dreadnoughts North Dakota and Utah, and in 1915, he was promoted to rear admiral. When the U.S. declared war on Germany in April 1917, he took the lead of America's convoy operations in the Atlantic, commanding both the cruiser and transport forces. He went down in the nation's history as "The Man who put 'em across and brought 'em back." Under his leadership, two million American troops were transported to France without losses in the midst of an unconstrained submarine war. After the end of hostitities, Gleaves organized their prompt return back home. Albert Gleaves retired in 1922 and wrote his memoirs and several books on naval history. A little over a year after his death, the U.S. Navy named a lead destroyer of a new class after Gleaves. |
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