| snakeyez |
06-07-09 12:23 PM |
"Silent Running" author James Calvert goes on Eternal Patrol
James F. Calvert, VADM, USN, Ret., 88, died of heart failure Wednesday June 3, 2009 in Bryn Mawr, PA. After graduating from Annapolis in 1942, Calvert went straight to work on submarines. During World War II he served on the USS Jack (SS-259) for eight war patrols and another on the USS Haddo (SS-255) The USS Jack, on which Calvert helped aim the torpedoes, is credited with sinking 15 Japanese ships. Calvert wrote several books. In his 1995 memoir "Silent Running," Calvert described his experiences in submarine operations in the Pacific during World War II, chasing and sinking enemy ships. Calvert was the commanding officer of the nuclear-powered USS Skate (SSN-578) from December 1957 to September 1959. The submarine became the first to surface at the North Pole in February 1959. Calvert wrote about the experience in a book titled "Surface At The Pole." The trip had been made to test how well a submarine could operate in the Arctic Ocean. Calvert served as the 46th Naval Academy superintendent from 1968 to 1972. During his tenure, he put an emphasis on increasing the academy's ability to recruit top civilian faculty members. He also implemented the academy's academic majors program, which broadened the academy's curriculum beyond engineering to include other majors such as political science. Calvert created the academy's James Forrestal Lecture in 1970, which focuses on leadership and has been given by prominent political, athletic and military leaders, including former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, football coach Dick Vermeil and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. After retiring from the Navy, Calvert worked as an assistant to the chairman of Texaco. He also was a senior executive at Combustion Engineering in Stamford, Conn. Calvert is survived by his wife of 41 years, Peggy, and their four sons Craig, David, John and Kemp Battle. He also is survived by two sons Jim and Charles from his previous marriage to his first wife Nancy, who died in 1965.
Link to his book "Silent Running: My Years on a WWII Attack Submarine" |
