Archie Ray Clemins (November 18, 1943 – March 14, 2020) was a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

four star admiral Military star ranking is military terminology, used to describe general and flag officers. Within NATO's armed forces, the stars are equal to OF-6–10. Star ranking One–star A one–star rank is usually the lowest ranking general or flag ...

who served as Commander in Chief,

United States Pacific Fleet The United States Pacific Fleet (USPACFLT) is a theater-level component command of the United States Navy, located in the Pacific Ocean. It provides naval forces to the Indo-Pacific Command. Fleet headquarters is at Joint Base Pearl Harbor� ...

(CINCPACFLT) from 1996 to 1999.

Military career

Clemins was born in

Mount Vernon, Illinois Mount Vernon is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 14,600 at the 2020 census. Mount Vernon is the principal city of the Mount Vernon Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all ...

on November 18, 1943, and graduated from the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...

with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering. He was commissioned upon graduation and entered the Naval Nuclear Power program, serving aboard ballistic missile submarines. He returned to the University of Illinois for a master's degree. 2002 Distinguished Sea Service Award Honoree biography Before being promoted to flag rank in 1991, Clemins commanded the

USS Pogy (SSN-647) USS ''Pogy'' (SSN-647), a , was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the pogy, or menhaden. Construction and commissioning The contract to build ''Pogy'' was awarded on 23 March 1963, and her keel was laid down on 5 May 19 ...

. As an admiral he commanded Pacific Fleet Training Command in San Diego, California, and the

Seventh Fleet The Seventh Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It is headquartered at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of ...

Yokosuka is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has a population of 409,478, and a population density of . The total area is . Yokosuka is the 11th most populous city in the Greater Tokyo Area, and the 12th in the Kantō region. The ...

, Japan. His final assignment was Commander in Chief of the

. He retired from active duty on December 1, 1999, and settled with his wife, Marilyn, in

Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown ...

Awards and honors

Post military career

After retiring from the navy, he established Caribou Technologies, Inc., and became co-owner of TableRock International LLC, both consulting firms for technology and business development. He was the 2002 recipient of the

Naval Order of the United States The Naval Order of the United States was established in 1890 as a hereditary organization in the United States for members of the American sea services. Its primary mission is to encourage research and writing on naval and maritime subjects and pr ...

Distinguished Sea Service Award The Distinguished Sea Service Award is an annual award of the Naval Order of the United States recognizing a recently retired flag or general office of the maritime services of the United States. History In 1998, Captain John Brasel of the New York ...

. Clemins recommended Australia as a location for new military testing sites to be used by both the

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia and its national interests. It consists of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army, Royal Australian Air Fo ...

and the US military as a result of disappearing sites in America. Speaking to The West Australian, he stated "You have to have places to drop bombs, you have to have places to shoot live weapons, places to fly planes over that make noise, places where you can actually test and exercise your capabilities. I think Australia in the future is going to be one of the places we'd like to exercise with the Australians, as well as with the US Navy. You now have some of the finest ranges in the Western Pacific which we cannot get anywhere else." Later the US military would indeed use Australia as a military exercising camp in the form of

Exercise Talisman Sabre Exercise Talisman Sabre (also formerly spelled Talisman Saber, the US English alternative title) is a biennial, multinational military exercise led by Australia and the United States. Talisman Sabre involves joint exercises performed by the Aust ...

, which is held every 2 years since 2001 in about July. He died at his home in Boise, Idaho, on March 14, 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clemins, Archie 1943 births 2020 deaths United States Navy admirals Grainger College of Engineering alumni People from Mount Vernon, Illinois Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the Legion of Merit Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Recipients of the Meritorious Service Medal (United States) Military personnel from Illinois

Military career

Awards and honors

Post military career

See also

References