Thomas Tingey Craven (8 July 1873 in Vallejo, California – 5 April 1950 in

St. Albans, New York St. Albans is a residential neighborhood in the southeastern portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered by Jamaica to the northwest, Hollis to the north, Queens Village to the northeast, Cambria Heights to the east, Laurelton t ...

) was a United States naval officer with service in World War I and World War II and rose to the rank of vice admiral.

Biography

He was a son of

Henry Smith Craven Henry Smith Craven (14 October 1845, Bound Brook, New Jersey - 7 December 1889, Brooklyn, New York) was an American inventor, civil and military engineer. Biography He was a son of Thomas Tingey Craven, a United States Navy officer. He studi ...

, a United States Navy officer and engineer and the grandson of his namesake, Thomas Tingey Craven (1808–1887) and great-grandson of Commodore Thomas Tingey (1750–1829). Craven graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1896. His first assignment after graduation was to the newly commissioned battleship USS ''Massachusetts'' (BB-2), where he served as a naval cadet. (Prior to the first world war, graduates of the naval academy were required to serve two years at sea prior to being commissioned.) Craven was commissioned as an ensign on 6 May 1898. During the Spanish–American War he served on the collier USS ''Scindia'' which delivered coal to recently captured Guantanamo Bay in Cuba in June 1898. He married Antoinette Merritt in 1901. In 1908, Craven was stationed aboard the

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

assigned duties as the ship's gunnery officer. In 1916, Thomas T. Craven was given command of the gunboat which he commanded throughout World War I until 1918. In 1919 while serving as the director of Naval Aviation, Tingey ordered the , a collier, to be converted into the U.S. Navy's first dedicated

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

which was renamed, . In the aftermath of the Honda Point Disaster in September 1923, Admiral Tingey defended Captain

Edward H. Watson Edward Howe Watson (February 28, 1874 – January 7, 1942) was a career United States Navy officer, who led a squadron of destroyers aground off Point Honda on the California coast in 1923. Early life and marriage Watson was born in Frankf ...

, Commanding Officer of

Destroyer Squadron 11 A destroyer squadron is a naval squadron or flotilla usually consisting of destroyers rather than other types of vessel. In some navies other vessels, such as frigates, may be included. In English the word "squadron" tends to be used for larger ...

, during the

courts martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

proceedings.Craven, Thomas T. (Thomas Tingey), 1873-1950. DLC. During the remainder of his naval career, Craven commanded

Destroyer Squadron 15 Destroyer Squadron 15 is a squadron of United States Navy ''Arleigh Burke''-class destroyers based at Yokosuka, Japan. History Destroyer Squadron Fifteen was founded in 1920 as a reserve fleet unit. The squadron was disestablished in 1922 and an ...

, was the Director of Naval Communications, commanded Great Lakes Naval Training Station, the Yangtze Patrol in China,

Battleship Division A BatDiv or BATDIV was a standard U.S. Navy abbreviation or acronym for "battleship division." The Commander of a Battleship Division was known, in official Navy communications, as COMBATDIV (followed by a number), such as COMBATDIV ONE. World Wa ...

One and served as the Commandant of the

Thirteenth Naval District The naval district was a U.S. Navy military and administrative command ashore. Apart from Naval District Washington, the Districts were disestablished and renamed Navy Regions about 1999, and are now under Commander, Naval Installations Command ...

in Bremerton, Washington prior to retiring from active duty in 1937. Following the United States' entrance into World War II, Vice Admiral Craven was recalled to active duty serving as superintendent of the

New York Maritime Academy State University of New York Maritime College (SUNY Maritime College) is a public maritime college in the Bronx, New York City. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. Founded in 1874, the SUNY Maritime College was the fi ...

at Fort Schuyler, NY until 1946, when he was succeeded by Vice Admiral

Herbert F. Leary Herbert Fairfax Leary (May 31, 1885 – December 3, 1957) was a highly decorated officer in the United States Navy with the rank of vice admiral. A son of Rear Admiral Richard P. Leary, he distinguished himself during World War I while on the st ...

References

External links

* * *
Thomas Tingey Craven Memoirs, 1897-1953 (bulk 1942-1953), MS 530
held by Special Collections & Archives, Nimitz Library at the United States Naval Academy {{DEFAULTSORT:Craven, Thomas Tingey 1873 births 1950 deaths United States Navy vice admirals United States Naval Academy alumni Naval War College alumni American military personnel of the Philippine–American War United States Navy personnel of World War I United States Navy World War II admirals Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal Military personnel from Vallejo, California