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Thomas Withers, Jr. (28 May 1886 – 25 Jun 1953), was a Rear 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 ...
. Withers graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1906. He later became qualified in and commanded submarines. At the beginning of World War II, he was
Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet (COMSUBPAC) is the principal advisor to the Commander, United States Pacific Fleet (Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet, COMPACFLT) for submarine matters. The Pacific Submarine Force (SUBPAC) includes att ...
. There he championed the reliability and efficacy of the
Mark 14 torpedo The Mark 14 torpedo was the United States Navy's standard submarine-launched anti-ship torpedo of World War II. This weapon was plagued with many problems which crippled its performance early in the war. It was supplemented by the Mark 18 elec ...
, at a time when submarine captains were discovering that the magnetic detonators for the torpedo were ineffective. Not very long after he was reassigned to
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, often called the Portsmouth Navy Yard, is a United States Navy shipyard in Kittery on the southern boundary of Maine near the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Founded in 1800, PNS is U.S. Navy's oldest continuo ...
in 1942 for the remainder of the war. Withers retired from the Navy in 1946 as a Rear Admiral with forty years of naval service. He died in Coronado, California, in 1953 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in Virginia.


References

United States Navy rear admirals (upper half) 1886 births 1953 deaths United States Naval Academy alumni United States Navy personnel of World War II People from Nelson County, Virginia Burials at Arlington National Cemetery United States submarine commanders {{US-mil-bio-stub