Joseph Reasor Redman (April 17, 1891September 7, 1968) was an admiral in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. A naval communications officer, he played key roles in signals intelligence during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, while he served as

Director of Naval Communications {{Refimprove, date=March 2017 Director of Naval Communications was a post on the staff of the United States Navy's Chief of Naval Operations responsible for organizing, administering and operating the Naval Communications Service. In Navy parlance ...

Biography

Redman graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1914. He was the brother of

John R. Redman John "Jack" Roland Redman (January 31, 1898 – May 29, 1970) was an admiral in the United States Navy. A naval communications officer, he played key roles in signals intelligence during World War II in Washington, D.C., and on the staff of A ...

, also a prominent naval communications officer. Joseph Redman commanded the from December 1939 to May 1940. On December 7, 1941, he was serving as the assistant to Rear Admiral

Leigh Noyes Leigh Noyes (December 15, 1885 – March 24, 1961) was a Vice Admiral in the United States Navy during World War II. He was Director of Naval Communications before the outbreak of World War II and later served as Commander, Carrier Division 3 an ...

, the

. Following the reorganization of naval communications in February 1942 and the departure of Noyes, Redman succeeded him as DNC until September 1942. Redman then went to the South Pacific to command the until returning as DNC in an unusual second tour, from April 1943 to August 1945. He retired with the rank of Rear Admiral and for his service as Director of Naval Communications, he was decorated with

Navy Distinguished Service Medal The Navy Distinguished Service Medal is a military decoration of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps which was first created in 1919 and is presented to sailors and Marines to recognize distinguished and exceptionally meritoriou ...

. Rear admiral Joseph R. Redman died on September 7, 1968 and is buried at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

. Every year the Admiral Joseph R. Redman Award is given to the midshipman of the graduating class at the United States Naval Academy who has "demonstrated the greatest achievement in the professional courses in Electrical Fundamentals and Applications" and is nominated by the Electrical Engineering Department.

Redman brothers

After the war the roles of Admiral Redman and his brother

during the war became controversial especially pertaining to the gathering of information prior to the

Battle of Midway The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. The U.S. Navy under Adm ...

. Despite their claim that John Redman's unit in Washington had been instrumental in developing the intelligence that led to the successful battle, it now appeared that in fact Redman and his people had drawn the wrong conclusions. The real work was done by the

cryptanalyst Cryptanalysis (from the Greek ''kryptós'', "hidden", and ''analýein'', "to analyze") refers to the process of analyzing information systems in order to understand hidden aspects of the systems. Cryptanalysis is used to breach cryptographic sec ...

team at

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

under the direction of

Joseph Rochefort Joseph John Rochefort (May 12, 1900 – July 20, 1976) was an American naval officer and cryptanalyst. He was a major figure in the United States Navy's cryptographic and intelligence operations from 1925 to 1946, particularly in the Battle of M ...

. After the battle the Redmans claimed the credit and used their influence to destroy Rochefort's career. This is further supported in detail by Stephen Budiansky. Redman's intelligence failures for the Battle of Midway, which included failure to identify the Japanese objectives and the date of their operation, are described in the memoirs of Rear Admiral Edwin Layton, who was Admiral Nimitz' intelligence chief throughout the Pacific War Layton, Edwin T., Admiral, USN, Ret., with Pineau, Roger, Captain USNR, Ret., and Costello, John, ''And I Was There: Pearl Harbor and Midway – Breaking the Secrets'' (New York, 1985).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Redman, Joseph 1891 births 1968 deaths People from Grass Valley, California United States Navy admirals United States Naval Academy alumni United States Navy personnel of World War I United States Navy World War II admirals Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal Burials at Arlington National Cemetery Military personnel from California