Jules James, (February 14, 1885 – March 12, 1957), was a career U.S. Naval officer. During World War II he commanded U.S. Naval forces in

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and then later oversaw the construction of a large number of U.S. Navy ships while commanding the Sixth Naval District.

Biography

He was born on 14 February 1885 in

Danville, Virginia Danville is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States, located in the Southside Virginia region and on the fall line of the Dan River. It was a center of tobacco production and was an area of Confederate activity ...

. Jules James graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1910 and was commissioned an ensign in the U.S. Navy. One of his early assignments was as a

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

naval aide to President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

from 1912 to 1913. The following year James had his first taste of combat, serving on the USS Florida during the

Battle of Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

Lieutenant Commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding ran ...

James served as Executive Officer aboard the USS ''Rochester'' (CA-2) during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

as the ship escorted convoys to and from Europe. For his actions Jules was give a special letter of commendation. Later, during the 70th U.S. Congress, special dispensation allowed James to accept the French

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

for his World War I service. In 1921 LCDR James and was present at one of the key changing moments in naval history.

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

General

Billy Mitchell William Lendrum Mitchell (December 29, 1879 – February 19, 1936) was a United States Army officer who is regarded as the father of the United States Air Force. Mitchell served in France during World War I and, by the conflict's end, command ...

, an outspoken advocate for air power, led a series of tests off the Virginia coast in which the ex-German battleship '' SMS Ostfriesland'' and other ships were sunk by bomber aircraft. James served as Chief Censor, given responsibility for censoring what information about the tests were released to the news media. After a tour aboard the ''

USS Columbia USS ''Columbia'' may refer to: * , a 44-gun frigate under construction, was Burning of Washington#Other Washington properties, burned in 1814 to prevent her capture by the British * was a 50-gun sailing frigate launched in 1836 and in occasional ...

'' in 1922, James served as Assistant Naval Attache to the American embassies in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

from 1923 to 1926. At times between 1926 and 1934 James was navigator on the ; commanded the , with which he participated in the Yangtze River patrol; served as naval aide for the Governor-General of the Philippines; attended the

Naval War College The Naval War College (NWC or NAVWARCOL) is the staff college and "Home of Thought" for the United States Navy at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. The NWC educates and develops leaders, supports defining the future Navy and associ ...

; and commanded the Destroyer Division 6, Battle Force, U.S. Fleet. In 1933 James was head of the Department of Ordnance and Gunnery at the U.S. Naval Academy. In 1937 he directed the fitting out of the

light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to th ...

, which he then commanded until mid-1939. From 1939 to 1941, he served as assistant director, and briefly acting director, of the

Office of Naval Intelligence The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) is the military intelligence agency of the United States Navy. Established in 1882 primarily to advance the Navy's modernization efforts, it is the oldest member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and serve ...

. In 1941 he became commander of the newly acquired U.S. Naval Operating Base on

, where he also commanded the combined U.S. and British local defense forces. From May 1943 to September 1945, James commanded the Sixth Naval District, headquartered at

Charleston Navy Yard Charleston Naval Shipyard (formerly known as the Charleston Navy Yard) was a U.S. Navy ship building and repair facility located along the west bank of the Cooper River, in North Charleston, South Carolina and part of Naval Base Charleston. H ...

, Charleston, South Carolina. In 1945 James received his final assignment, commander of United States Naval Forces, Mediterranean (now redesignated the U.S. Sixth Fleet) where he served until retiring from active duty in 1946. In addition to being a serving officer, James was an inventor and songwriter. During his time in Bermuda James wrote and published the tune "Traveling High". Earlier in his career he was responsible for the invention of a new type of gunsight for Navy machine guns and a naval mine. He died on 12 March 1957 in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

Personal

Jules James was born in Danville, Virginia, where he studied at Danville Military Institute preparatory to entering the U. S. Naval Academy. In 1928 he married Eleanor Standish Gamble, niece of U.S. Secretary of War

Henry Stimson Henry Lewis Stimson (September 21, 1867 – October 20, 1950) was an American statesman, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. Over his long career, he emerged as a leading figure in U.S. foreign policy by serving in both Republican and D ...

. Gamble was also the great-great granddaughter of American founding father

Roger Sherman Roger Sherman (April 19, 1721 – July 23, 1793) was an American statesman, lawyer, and a Founding Father of the United States. He is the only person to sign four of the great state papers of the United States related to the founding: the Con ...

. Following his retirement from the Navy in 1946, James became a special representative in Europe for the

National Lead Company NL Industries (), formerly known as the National Lead Company, is a lead smelting company currently based in Houston, Texas. National Lead was one of the 12 original stocks included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average at the time of its creation on ...

Biography

Personal

References

Further reading