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US Navy Officers
1939-1945

Dates: day-month-year, so 10.08.1909 is August 10, 1909. Abbreviations and explanations can be found at the help page.
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T
Towers, John Henry Son of William Magee and Mary (Norton) Towers. Married 1st (05.10.1915) Elizabeth Haseltine "Lily" Carstairs (divorced 1923); one son, one daughter. Married 2nd (08.1930) Marie-Louise-Anne- Pierrette (Pierrette Anne) "Pierre" Chauvin de Grandmont (1902-1990). Private papers	30.01.1885 Rome, GA - 30.04.1955 St. Albans Naval Hospital, Queens, New York [Arlington National Cemetery, VA]	Ensign 12.02.1908 Lt. 1911 Lt.Cdr. 1919? Cdr. 25.06.1918 Capt. 1930 R.Adm. 12.1939 V.Adm. 10.1942 Adm. 07.11.1945 (retd 01.12.1947) NC 1920 ? DSM 1945 ? LM 1944 ? Commandant, Order of Tower and Sword (Portugal); special medals of Congress; hon. Knight Commander, Order of the British Empire	Education: Gerogia School of Technology (1901-1902); US Naval Academy, Annapolis (1902-1906) 1907 - 1908 served aboard the battleship Kentucky as part of the Great White Fleet circumnavigating the globe 12.02.1908 commissioned USN 1908 - 1909 served on the Kearsarge and the Indiana 1909 - 1911 helped outfit the battleship Michigan for a transatlantic voyage 27.06.1911 - 08.1911 Curtiss Flying School 08.1911 established navy's first air installation at Greenbury Point near Annapolis, Md. [while stationed there he set a world endurance record for seaplanes in October 1912] 1912 tested new aircraft, Curtiss Flying School, North Island, San Diego, CA 05.03.1913 naval aviator (the third naval officer to qualify) [survived crash over Chesapeake Bay near St. Michaels, MD, that led to development of seat belts for airplanes] 1913 commanded first air unit in fleet maneuvers in the Caribbean from Guantanamo, Cuba 04.1914 Executive officer, Naval Air Station, Pensacola, FL. Commanded four-plane air unit aboard the battleship Mississippi and the cruiser Birmingham, Veracruz, Mexico 08.1914 - 1916 Assistant (& Acting) Naval Attache in London (to observe airplane and airship developments) 1916 commanded naval aviation, office of the chief of naval operations (later designated supervisor of the Naval Aviation Flying Corps) 1917 Assistant director of naval aviation (mobilized American naval air forces for World War I) 08.05.1919 commanded Seaplane Division One, the flight of three Navy-Curtiss seaplanes that took off from Rockaway, Long Island, on a flight across he Atlantic; Towers in NC-3 and NC-l, with Lieutenants Marc A. Mitscher and Patrick N.L. Bellinger, were forced down in fog near the Azores but Lieutenant Commander AIbert C. Read completed the first transatlantic flight later in the month 1919 - 1920 Executive Officer, aircraft tender Aroostook & Senior aide to Pacific Air Detachment commander Captain Henry C. Mustin, San Diego, Calif. 1920 commanded the tender Mugford 1921 - 1923 Executive officer, Naval Air Station, Pensacola, FL 1923 - 1925 Assistant naval attache in London 1925 - 1926 Bureau of Aeronautics, Washington, DC 1926 - 1927 Executive Officer, Langley, the first Navy aircraft carrier 01.1927 - 08.1928 commanded Langley 1928 - 1929 Head, Plans Division, Bureau of Aeronautics, Washington, DC 04.1929 - 1931 Assistant Chief, Bureau of Aeronautics 06.1931 - 06.1933 Chief of Staff, Battle Force Aircraft (carrier) commander Rear Admiral Harry E. Yarnell aboard the aircraft carrier Saratoga 1933 - 1934 attended Naval War College, Newport, RI assigned Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, RI 1934 - 1936 commanded Naval Air Station, North Island, San Diego, CA 1936 - 1937 Chief of Staff, Battle Force Aircraft (carrier) commander Vice Admiral Frederick J. Horne aboard the Saratoga 1937 - 1938 commanded the Saratoga 1938 - 1939 Assistant Chief, Bureau of Aeronautics 01.06.1939 - 07.10.1942 Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics (mobilized American naval air forces for World War II; member, Joint Chiefs of Staff) 10.1942 - 1944 Commander, United States Naval Air Forces, Pacific Fleet, as a vice admiral Aviation advisor, Pacific Fleet commander Admiral Chester W. Nimitz 02.1944 - 1945 Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas 1945 - 1945 Commander, Main Fleet Headquarters, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii 1945 - 09.1945 Commander, Second Carrier Task Force 09.1945 - 11.1945 Commander, Task Force Thirty-eight off Japan aboard the aircraft carrier Shangri-La 11.1945 - 11.1945 Commander, Fifth Fleet, aboard the battleship New Jersey as an admiral 11.1945 - 12.1947 Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas aboard the aircraft carrier Bennington at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii 1947 Chairman, General Board, Navy Department Vice president, Pan American Airways, 1948-1953. Member, Public Policy Committee of the Institute of War and Peace Studies, ca. 1952-1954. President, Flight Safety Foundation, New York, N.Y., 1953-1955.

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