Holloway Plan

James Lemuel Holloway Jr. (June 20, 1898 – January 11, 1984) was a four-star admiral in the United States Navy who served as superintendent of the United States Naval Academy from 1947–1950; as Chief of Naval Personnel from 1953–1957; and as commander in chief of all United States naval forces in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean from 1957–1959, in which capacity he commanded the 1958 American intervention in Lebanon. As founder of the Holloway Plan, he was responsible for creating the modern Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps.

Holloway was the father of four-star admiral and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral James L. Holloway III. , they are the only father and son to both serve as four-star admirals in the United States Navy while on active duty, as opposed to being promoted to that rank posthumously or at retirement.

Early career

Holloway was born on June 20, 1898, in Fort Smith, Arkansas to future centenarian James Lemuel Holloway and the former Mary George Leaming. In 1904, his family moved to Dallas, Texas, where he was a varsity football tackle and a member of the debate team at Oak Cliff High School, from which he graduated in 1915. Unable to secure an appointment to the United States Military Academy—his original ambition—Holloway instead passed the entrance examinations for the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland and entered the Naval Academy as a midshipman in 1915. He graduated in June 1918 near the bottom of the accelerated class of 1919, ranked 149th out of 199, and later claimed that he had avoided flunking out of the Academy only because his class graduated early due to World War I. "I knew I would have bilged in mechanics."

World War I

Commissioned ensign on June 7, 1918, Holloway was assigned to the destroyer , operating out of Brest, France as part of the destroyer force tasked with anti-submarine patrols against German U-boats in European waters. He made a poor impression almost immediately. "They never told me about the lack of space on destroyers. My baggage filled the whole wardroom. I was a very unpopular young officer for that." Nevertheless, he was promoted to lieutenant (junior grade) in September.

In January 1919, Holloway was assigned to the battleship , a tour that included duty as aide and flag lieutenant to Rear Admiral Frederick B. Bassett Jr. As the admiral's aide, Holloway visited Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay when ''Florida'' carried Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby and his party on a diplomatic cruise to South American and Caribbean ports in 1920.

Inter-war period

In August 1921, Holloway was assigned to destroyer duty, briefly commanding the destroyer before serving as executive officer of the destroyer until June 1922, when he was promoted to full lieutenant and assigned as executive officer of the destroyer for two years of sea duty in the Far East with the Asiatic Fleet. Upon his return to the U.S. in July 1924, he served as an instructor at the Naval Academy in the Department of Ordnance and Gunnery from August 1924 – June 1926, under successive superintendents Henry B. Wilson and Louis M. Nulton.

In 1926, Holloway began a two-year tour aboard the battleship , over the course of which he received several departmental commendations for "contribution to gunnery efficiency" and had under his command the highest scoring gun turret in the Navy, which set a record in target practice that remained unbroken for several years.

From August 1928 to June 1930, Holloway was aide and flag lieutenant on the staff of Rear Admiral Harris Laning, chief of staff of the Battle Fleet and subsequently Commander Battleship Division Two. He remained Laning's aide for the first two years of the admiral's next assignment as President of the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, then had duty as assistant gunnery officer aboard the battleship from June 1932 – May 1933. In May 1933, he was again assigned as aide and flag lieutenant to now-Vice Admiral Laning, Commander Cruisers Scouting Force. He was promoted to lieutenant commander in June.

In June 1934, Holloway began a year in command of the destroyer , flagship of Commander, Destroyer Squadron Three in the Pacific Fleet. "I made a beauty out of the ''Hopkins''. I brought her up in appearance and gunnery. A friend of mine, the first lieutenant of the , helped me. This boy gave me an extra 200 gallons of paint every month. I made her look like a yacht."

Holloway was transferred to the Navy Department in June 1935 for three years of duty with the Gunnery Section of the Fleet Training Division, then was navigator of the battleship from 1938 until July 1939, when he assumed command of the cargo ship and was promoted to the rank of full commander.

World War II

In September 1939, Holloway became chief of staff to Rear Admiral Hayne Ellis, commander of the Atlantic Squadron, in which capacity Holloway directed the expansion and deployment of the Atlantic Squadron for Neutrality Patrol operations after the outbreak of World War II in Europe.

In October 1940, Holloway was assigned as officer in charge of the gunnery section of the Fleet Training Office in the office of the Chief of Naval Operations, where he was serving at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. "We were busy as bird-dogs in those weeks following the attack. It's hard to describe just how much the workload moved up. We stopped all routine computation of training and competitive exercises that Fleet Training had been responsible for, and we went into expediting production and perfecting the performance of weapons."

In the weeks following the attack, Holloway was one of three duty officers selected to stand the night watch at the Navy Department, alternating four-hour shifts with Captain Cato D. Glover Jr. and Commander Forrest P. Sherman. "One night, we got a report that there was a dirigible off New York. I put out an emergency on the whole East Coast." The supposed enemy airship turned out to be an off-course American blimp, but Holloway's superiors approved his decision anyway. "After what had happened at Pearl Harbor, we went to general quarters in case of doubt."

Operation Torch

Holloway had applied for immediate sea duty after the Pearl Harbor attack and on 20 May 1942, he assumed command of Destroyer Squadron Ten (Desron 10), a newly built and newly commissioned member of the Atlantic Fleet. Promoted to captain in June, in November he led Desron 10 in screening the landings at Casablanca during the opening stages of Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa. As one of three principal destroyer commanders in this operation, he received a Navy Commendation Ribbon with the following citation: "Holloway prevented the many enemy submarines in the area from delivering effective torpedo fire and, by his aggressive fighting spirit and courageous leadership, contributed materially to the winning of a decisive victory over the enemy."

DD-DE Shakedown Task Force

Having gained a reputation for "unusual capacity for imparting enthusiasm as well as for organization", he was relieved of the command of Desron 10 on 8 April 1943, to lead the new Destroyer and Destroyer Escort (DD-DE) Shakedown Task Force that was being organized at Bermuda to systematically work up newly built destroyers and destroyer escorts before they joined the Atlantic Fleet.

Arriving at Bermuda on 13 April aboard the destroyer tender , Holloway quickly established an efficient arena for drilling untrained crews in operations at sea. When newly commissioned ships arrived at Bermuda, their officers and men debarked for training aboard ''Hamul'' and ashore while their vessels underwent inspection and repair by task force staff. Ships then returned to sea to practice tactics and the use of their equipment, in daylight and in darkness, against towed surface targets and "tame" submarines. Task force staff handled all repairs and logistics, freeing commanding officers to focus solely on training their crews.

At first, Holloway's training program only covered destroyer escorts and a few gunboats, but his "Bermuda college" was so successful that it was expanded in September to encompass all newly built destroyers, and would eventually be extended to Canadian and British vessels as well. By the time of his relief on 14 November, 99 destroyer escorts and 20 destroyers had already graduated from the program and 25 other ships were being trained. The shakedown period had been reduced from six to eight weeks of haphazard preparation to only four weeks for destroyer escorts and five weeks for destroyers, with vastly superior quality of training. For this success, Holloway was awarded the Legion of Merit, whose citation commended his having "built up an efficient organization, turning over to the Fleet competent seagoing vessels and thoroughly indoctrinated personnel. His conspicuous success in fulfilling this important assignment and his skill in collaboration with other commands have contributed vitally to the effective prosecution of the war."

Bureau of Naval Personnel

Holloway became director of training at the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington, D.C. on November 15, 1943, where he earned a second Commendation Ribbon for having "integrated the various programs into one efficient organization with the bureau the center of all policies and procedures. His able directorship and foresight contributed greatly to the successful expansion of the naval training program during this crucial year of war." Holloway's sheer efficiency in this role worked against him when his request for sea duty was rejected by Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal, who ruled that Holloway should continue in the training job, "where you are hitting your peak." Forrestal finally relented in late 1944 and released Holloway for duty in the Pacific theater.

USS ''Iowa''

Holloway assumed command of the battleship , flagship of Battleship Division 7, in November 1944. Under his command, ''Iowa'' took part in attacks on Luzon later that month, shooting down many enemy aircraft, and participated in strikes on the Japanese homeland from March–July 1945. For commanding ''Iowa'' during these operations, he received a Gold Star in lieu of a second Legion of Merit, with the following citation: "With his vessel operating as flagship of several important striking and covering forces...Holloway rendered distinguished service throughout the intensive actions and, by his brilliant leadership and outstanding skill, contributed materially to the extensive and costly damage inflicted on the enemy."

Holloway operated his battleship with characteristic flair, recalled Rear Admiral Ralph Kirk James, who had been the maintenance officer responsible for repair work on damaged ships at Manus when ''Iowa'' arrived at that base to fix shafting problems on 25 December 1944. "Jimmy Holloway was charging up the harbor with this big battleship, the biggest I'd seen, and I was getting more and more nervous." Alarmed, James warned Holloway to reduce his speed before entering the drydock. "'Oh no,' ollowaysaid...He got the ship just about halfway into the dry dock when he ordered full speed astern. The ''Iowa'' shook like a damned destroyer and stopped just where she was supposed to be." Unfortunately, the backwash from the engine reversal swept away the drydock support blocks from underneath the ship, and James and his crew had to spend an extra three hours resetting the blocks before ''Iowa'' could dock. Afterward, James discovered a grey streak in his hair. "I can tell you the moment it was born: when Holloway pulled his high-speed throttle-jockey stunt on me."

Despite being captain of the premier surface vessel in the U.S. Navy, Holloway recognized that naval aviation had become dominant. Soon after assuming command of ''Iowa'', he wrote an urgent letter to his son, Lieutenant James L. Holloway III, who was following in his father's footsteps as a junior officer on a destroyer, to advise the young lieutenant to abandon his promising career in the surface Navy to become a naval aviator as soon as possible. "The war in the Pacific is being won by the carriers. The future of the U.S. Navy lies in naval aviation." Lieutenant Holloway promptly applied for flight training and went on to captain the nuclear aircraft carrier , the premier aviation vessel of its era.

Demobilization

Promoted to rear admiral, Holloway reported as Commander, Fleet Training Command, Pacific Fleet on 8 August 1945. He was detached from that command less than two months later, on 26 September, to take charge of the Navy's troubled postwar demobilization.

Rear Admiral William M. Fechteler, Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel, informed Holloway that demobilization in the Pacific was "completely chaotic," and ordered Holloway to take charge of the effort with the hastily created title of Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel for Demobilization. Holloway immediately conducted a quick inspection tour of West Coast demobilization centers and concluded that the biggest problem was understaffing at the receiving facilities, which lacked the personnel to process the paperwork for the flood of returning servicemen. To alleviate this bottleneck, Holloway augmented the demobilization center staffs with yeomen, disbursing clerks, and anyone else who could read a form. However, after the Pacific returnees had been processed and discharged, they still had to be transported overland from their West Coast debarkation ports to their homes, the vast majority of which were located east of the Rocky Mountains. Holloway deputized subordinate Howard "Red" Yeager as director of rail transportation for the Navy, and Yeager worked with the Association of American Railroads to assemble the necessary rolling stock from scratch. "I think they reached as low as the Toonerville trolley," Holloway recalled.

Under Holloway's immediate direction, the task of demobilizing over three million men was completed by September 1, 1946. He won a Letter of Commendation for his skill as administrator and was officially praised for his skillful direction and supervision of the Navy's personnel demobilization plan.

Holloway resisted pressure from various dignitaries to speed the homecoming of favored constituents. When a member of the United States Senate brought in a friend to ask a favor, Holloway appealed to the senator's better nature: "I look to you, Senator, to help me maintain my probity." Said Holloway later, "No Congressman ever failed to react to such a plea."

Holloway Plan

While directing the navy's demobilization, Holloway also chaired an influential board that laid the foundation for the postwar Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC). Named for its chairman, the Holloway Board was charged with "the development of the proper form, system, and method of education of officers in the postwar United States Navy." Its members included Williams College president James P. Baxter III, Illinois Institute of Technology president Henry T. Heald, Cornell University provost Arthur S. Adams, Rear Admiral Felix L. Johnson, Rear Admiral Stuart H. Ingersoll

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