Gilbert Corwin Hoover (July 25, 1894 – January 8, 1980) was a United States Naval officer from 1916 to 1947. He served in both world wars, was involved in the early stages of the development of the

Atomic Bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear expl ...

, and managed the Atomic Energy Commission's Boulder facility as a civilian contractor. He was awarded the

Navy Cross The Navy Cross is the United States Naval Service's second-highest military decoration awarded for sailors and marines who distinguish themselves for extraordinary heroism in combat with an armed enemy force. The medal is equivalent to the Army ...

three times.

Early life

Hoover was born on July 25, 1894, in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

to Fredrick Maynard Hoover (1868–1930) and Eliza Florence Kinnear Hoover (1876–1955). His parents came from prominent families, and had ancestors from

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually shortened to Hull, is a historic maritime city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Est ...

in the United Kingdom. Due to his love of the ocean Hoover attended the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

and graduated in the Class of 1916.

Military service

World War I

After graduation Hoover was assigned to the battleship , which was undergoing dockyard work in New York, around March, 1916. ''Wyoming'' returned to service on June26 and was involved in maneuvers off the Virginia Capes for the remainder of the year. Hoover was promoted to

Lieutenant (junior grade) Lieutenant junior grade is a junior commissioned officer rank used in a number of navies. United States Lieutenant (junior grade), commonly abbreviated as LTJG or, historically, Lt. (j.g.) (as well as variants of both abbreviations), i ...

on January1, 1917 — eight days before ''Wyoming'' left New York for Cuban waters. She left Cuba on March27 and was cruising off Yorktown, Virginia when the US declared war on Germany. ''Wyoming'' left the Chesapeake Bay area on November 25 for Scapa Flow. She arrived on December 7, joining the

6th Battle Squadron (United Kingdom) The 6th Battle Squadron was a squadron of the British Royal Navy consisting of Battleships serving in the Grand Fleet and existed from 1913 to 1917. History First World War August 1914 In August 1914, the 6th Battle Squadron was based at Portlan ...

. Hoover was promoted to

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on January 2, 1918. After months of drilling, ''Wyoming'' escorted a convoy to Stavanger, Norway, patrolled the North Sea, and covered a minelaying operation. During this time there were multiple false reports of

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

sightings. ''Wyoming'' became Rear Admiral

Hugh Rodman Admiral Hugh Rodman KCB (6 January 1859 – 7 June 1940) was an officer in the United States Navy who served during the Spanish–American War and World War I, later serving as the Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet from 1919 to 1921. B ...

's flagship after was damaged hitting a U-boat. On November21 ''Wyoming'' and 370 other warships rendezvoused with the German

High Seas Fleet The High Seas Fleet () was the battle fleet of the German Empire, German Imperial German Navy, Imperial Navy and saw action during the First World War. In February 1907, the Home Fleet () was renamed the High Seas Fleet. Admiral Alfred von Tirpi ...

and accepted its surrender. Afterwards she joined the , which was carrying president

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

to the

Paris Peace Conference Agreements and declarations resulting from meetings in Paris include: Listed by name Paris Accords may refer to: * Paris Accords, the agreements reached at the end of the London and Paris Conferences in 1954 concerning the post-war status of Germ ...

, along with nine other battleships and 28 destroyers off Brest, France. ''Wyoming'' then returned to Britain, sailing on to New York on December25. In a roster from December 26, Hoover is listed as having been in European waters for 12 months.

Interwar

On October1, 1939 Hoover, by then a

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

, was assigned to the "Experimental Section" under the

Bureau of Ordnance The Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) was a United States Navy organization, which was responsible for the procurement, storage, and deployment of all naval weapons, between the years 1862 and 1959. History The Bureau of Ordnance was established as part ...

, headed by Rear Admiral William R. Furlong.

World War II

On October1, 1941 Hoover's signal number was 632. He was commander of Destroyer Division 25, part of Destroyer Squadron 13 led by Captain L.H. Thebaud and Lt.Cmdr. H.C. Robinson. Division 25 included (flagship), , , and . Squadron 13 was part of Flotilla 3, which in October was part of Task Force Four of the Atlantic Fleet. After the attack on Pearl Harbor Hoover was transferred to the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

as a destroyer division commander in Task Force 17.5, responsible for guarding the carriers and . The ships under his command were: ; ; ; ; and . Hoover was involved in the

Battle of the Coral Sea The Battle of the Coral Sea, from 4 to 8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces of the United States and Australia. Taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, the battle ...

where he was awarded a Navy Cross for moving his ships alongside the USS ''Lexington'' to rescue survivors. His command became Task Group 17.4, including in addition to 17.5, a destroyer screen for ''Yorktown'' during the decisive

Battle of Midway The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II, Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of t ...

in early June. ''Hammann'' and ''Yorktown'' were the only American ships to be sunk during the battle. Captain Hoover took command of the Brooklyn-class light cruiser on September25, 1942. Under command of Hoover ''Helena'' took part in the battles of

Cape Esperance Cape Esperance () is the northernmost point on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. History The Battle of Cape Esperance, one of several naval engagements fought in the waters north of the island during the World War II Guadalcanal campaign, took its ...

and

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomons by area and the second- ...

. As a result of the night action off Guadalcanal (12-13 November 1942) only six of the thirteen U.S. Navy ships involved were able to steam away under their own power. The six included ''Helena''. By dawn, these survivors had been gathered together by the senior surviving officer, Captain Hoover, in the southeast end of Indispensable Strait. In Captain Hoover's preliminary action report to Vice Admiral William F. Halsey, Commander, South Pacific, Hoover stated that he was concerned that radio emissions might disclose the location of the ships, so he sent the report over to the USS ''O'Bannon'' and ordered her north of San Cristobal Island to transmit it by radio. Captain Hoover then turned the five ships south of San Cristobal and, in a loose formation, headed for Espiritu Santo. In the southeast end of Indispensable Strait the USS ''Juneau'' was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-26. Having received reports that three more Japanese submarines lurked along his route and with a submarine present in his area Hoover made the decision to not search for survivors of the USS ''Juneau'', thereby abandoning 100 survivors, of which only ten survived. Hoover was left with ''Helena'' and the USS ''San Francisco'', which was in shambles, and two destroyers, the USS ''Sterett'' DD-407 and USS ''Fletcher'' DD-445. The ''Steretts sonar was out of commission leaving the ''Fletcher'' as Hoover's only effective ASW ship. Hoover sent a signal to an overhead USAAF bomber to ask ComSoPac (Halsey) to rescue Juneau's survivors. The message was reportedly never received by Halsey. Admiral William Halsey, angered by Hoover's decision, had Captain Hoover removed from command, effectively ending his career. Halsey later expressed regret about his hasty decision to remove Hoover, but the damage had been done.

Later life

Hoover retired from the navy in 1947. In 1951 he returned to government service as a civilian official at the Atomic Energy Commission's (AEC) Sandia Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Following this he became manager of the AEC's facility in Boulder, Colorado. He returned to Bristol in 1956. Hoover died on January10, 1980 at the Hattie Ida Chaffee Nursing Home in East Providence, Rhode Island at the age of 85.

Personal life

Hoover served as a vestryman and warden of St. Michael's Episcopal Church where he donated a flag from Task Force 17 which is on display today. He was a member of the American Society of Metals, Army-Navy Legion of Valor, National Sojourners,

Sons of the American Revolution The Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), formally the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (NSSAR), is a federally chartered patriotic organization. The National Society, a nonprofit corporation headquartered in Louisvi ...

Chevy Chase ClubHope ClubBristol Yacht Club
and was a Mason. His first child, Gilbert Corwin Jr., was born in 1924 in Washington D.C. to Hoover's first wife, Martha Smith. Gilbert Jr. went on to graduate from Brown University and become an officer in the Navy. Hoover's two daughters were born to his second wife, Mabel Dumbbell.

Awards and decorations

Rescuing survivors of USS Lexington during Battle of the Coral Sea

Battle of Cape Esperance

Naval Battle of Guadalcanal 12-13 Nov 1942

References

External links

* http://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient.php?recipientid=20527 * http://www.usshelena.org/hoover.html * https://www.facebook.com/pg/Gilbert-C-Hoover-352474184804545/posts/?ref=page_interna * http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/bexley/news/2010/06/09/kinnear-became-household-name-in-north-columbus.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoover, Gilbert C. 1894 births 1980 deaths United States Navy rear admirals United States Navy personnel of World War I United States Navy World War II admirals United States Naval Academy alumni Recipients of the Navy Cross (United States) Military personnel from Columbus, Ohio