The one that comes to mind right of hand is M Wiesner Capt. He was the second CO of the Coral Sea while I was aboard and he was one great ship handler. I belive he went as far as CINCPAC as Vice Admiral .
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Rear Admiral Robert Hilton. Was Captain of the Davis in 66 and 67. Was an enlisted man in WW2 and went to college when he got out. Came back in as an officer. Passed away about a year ago.
USS Liberty, Never Forget.
I believe in Murrays Law, he thought Murphy was an optimist.
For me it would have to be Commander Thomas J.Williams, CO of VAQ-137, in the early eighties, and Commander Vernon D. Shirley, CO of VAQ-132, in the mid and late seventies. One officer who I served with was Commander Walter Dennis Bird when he was Lieutenant in VAQ-132. He went on to command his own squadron, VAQ-135. All three of these men were "Aces." I would have done most anything for them. Commanders Bird and Williams were pilots and they would always want me to "trim" the engines on the squadron aircraft. As Cdr. Bird once said, "Seems like when you do the engines they have more power." They did, but that's my secret......
Captain Norbert Aubrey (Sunshine)Commanding Officer of USS Vancouver LPD-2--went on to become Captain of USS Providence 7th Fleet Flagship. I served on 8 Navy ships during my career so I had many Commanding Officers. Captain Aubrey was by far the best.
I am writing this for my Dad. The best CO he ever had was Capt. Chester Nimitz of the USS Augusta who was his CO from August 1934 to April 1937. He talks about his time in the Asiatic Fleet with Nimitz in command prior to WWII.
Two of my three sea-going CO's were really good. On USS Groton (SSN-694) we got CDR Rick Martinez half way through decomm. He turned the crew's morale around almost overnight, compared to CDR Nicholas Flacco, he was awesome. He treated us with respect and didn't quibble over the details that were teh Chief's business like Flacco did. Last I heard he made CAPT and was doing something down in New Zealand. On USS Maine we had CDR Steve Mcshane. We served the same 4 patrols on the Maine, including being underway on the 100th anniversary of the sinking of Maine (ACR-1). His best quality was keeping his XO and COB (CMC to you skimmer types) under control. For Steve Mcshane, he would have gotten his Star by now if it weren't for that unfortunate rod control incident he inadvertantly caused. Good man, Good CO
Served on several different ships,but the one Captain that was by far the best Oaptain I had the good fotune to serve under was Captain David.M.Tyree.He was the CO. of The USS New Jersey (BB-62) during its deployment to Korea. During one Mid Watch,I as the BMOW and he the Captain made the rounds to all the lookout stations.He carried a bucket of cups and I carried the coffee pot. We had a change of command ceremony at Pearl Harbor on our way back to Norfolk. A real s--thead. What a difference.
The best CO I served under was CDR James J. McTigue, CO of USS SIMPSON (FFG-56). He was CO during Operation Praying Mantis. An outstanding CO and all around great guy.
His pride and joy on the ship was having an all-enlisted bridge crew, from OOD on down. I stood plenty of JOOD watches as an STG1. When we did unreps, he'd get a kick out of getting on the phone and calling the oiler to let them know that he was the only officer on the bridge.
One of my two CO's Dick Dunleavy CV-43. He later became infamous for the Tailhook scandal, but was a great skipper. He kept the ship steaming and the planes flying. Always walked around and talked to the enlisted guys.
I would have to say that every skipper I ever served under was very competent and well deserving of their command. That said, I would say the best one had to be Cdr. Fidel Baca, C.O. of VQ-3 from when I arrived in 83 until late 84. He was a true professional and although he expected much from us, he respected and praised all of the squadron personnel. Very fair, but also very tough on those that chose the "wrong path" in their naval service. I also had the pleasure of meeting Admiral Mike Boorda, who was Group Commander during my first cruise on the Saratoga. He later became C.N.O. Pretty good for a former enlisted man.
He wasn't my CO (he was post MAJCMD) but man was he a piece of work, an O6 I had the distinct DISpleasure of working for as a civilian. He was the N3 on a major staff and when he first arrived, within a month he had written letters on two CDRs and a GS-14. I guess he was trying to establish that he was in charge, but all he did was pi$$ people off and make them afraid of him. No one respected him. The worst of it was that he made everyone around him worse. People that you used to be able to count on to go to bat for you or provide you top cover would not utter a peep in anyones defense, all they did was play CYA all day.
I was in a new billet there for a whopping two weeks when I had a meeting with him and a couple other people on updating our command training plan. He proceeded to rip into me for how out of date the document was and how poorly written it originally was. The guy who wrote it (who used to look out for me) just sat there at the table never saying one word in my defense. When I tried to defend myself, the CDR at the table would jump in and cut me off trying to look good for the O6. When he and I had a difference of opinion, everyone sided with him at the table even though they admitted later that I was right. He turned people I respected into empty uniforms who I wouldn't trust for anything.
He would set the JOs up to be wrong, berate them in front of everyone else and then make some statement about trying to help them develop professionally. He helped them develop nice civilian careers is all he did. Every single one of them left the Navy at the first opportunity, one even tried to get out early just to get away from him.
He would steal peoples ideas right in front of their faces, just like the fedex.com commercial. No that's a bad idea … what about this, then saying exactly the same thing. It was so bad, JOs and Enlisted would sit around and ***** together about what an a-hole the guy was. The command climate was poisonous, morale was in the sh---er and all anyone wanted to know is when is XXX leaving.
He was such a poor representative of his community, he was every bad stereotype of a SWO and then some. I will never wear black shoes again because of him.
Captain Hal Terry and Captain Bill Shaughnessy both were CO's of USS Milwaukee (AOR-2) 1971-74. I was an RM and had daily contact with both of these gentlemen.
