Ralph Andrew Ofstie (16 November 1897 – 18 November 1956) was a Vice 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 ...

, an escort carrier commander in World War II, Deputy

Chief of Naval Operations The chief of naval operations (CNO) is the professional head of the United States Navy. The position is a statutory office () held by an admiral who is a military adviser and deputy to the secretary of the Navy. In a separate capacity as a memb ...

(Air), and Commander of the U.S. Sixth Fleet. He was born in Eau Claire,

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

and his hometown was Everett, Washington.

Naval Academy and World War I

Ofstie was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in 1897 to a Norwegian father and Swedish mother who had emigrated from Stjørdal, Norway in 1896.1956 Admiral Ralph Ofstie - Historiefortellere

(PDF) (Norwegian) ''historiefortelleren.no'' Retrieved 7 March 2019 He enrolled in the

U.S. Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy is ...

Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

in 1915, graduated tenth of his class and was commissioned an Ensign in June 1918. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, he served on the destroyer and the cruiser where he saw duty in the Eastern Atlantic and in European Waters. He was promoted to

Lieutenant (junior grade) Lieutenant junior grade is a junior commissioned officer rank used in a number of navies. United States Lieutenant (junior grade), commonly abbreviated as LTJG or, historically, Lt. (j.g.) (as well as variants of both abbreviations), ...

in August 1918. After the war, he was transferred to the destroyer .

Early career

In 1920 Ofstie reported to

Naval Air Station Pensacola Naval Air Station Pensacola or NAS Pensacola (formerly NAS/KNAS until changed circa 1970 to allow Nassau International Airport, now Lynden Pindling International Airport, to have IATA code NAS), "The Cradle of Naval Aviation", is a United State ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

for Navy Pre-Flight School. Upon completion, he attended Naval Flight Training school which he completed in 1921 and was designated a

Naval Flight Officer A naval flight officer (NFO) is a commissioned officer in the United States Navy or United States Marine Corps who specializes in airborne weapons and sensor systems. NFOs are not pilots (naval aviators), but they may perform many "co-pilot" or ...

. His first air squadron was Fighter Squadron

VF-1 Fighter Squadron 1 (VF-1) was a fighter squadron of the United States Navy. Originally established on 14 October 1972 it was disestablished on 30 September 1993. It was the fifth US Navy squadron to be designated VF-1. Known as the "Wolfpack" the ...

"Wolfpack" where he served from 1922 to 1924. With other Navy pilots in the 1920s, Ofstie participated in annual flight competitions with Army pilots in the Curtiss Marine aircraft. In 1924-1925 he was assigned as Commanding Officer of Scouting Squadron VS-6. From 1927 to 1929 he served as Aviation Officer 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 ...

. From 1929 to 1933 Ofstie served in the Flight Test Division at

Naval Air Station Anacostia Anacostia is a historic neighborhood in Southeast Washington, D.C. Its downtown is located at the intersection of Good Hope Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. It is located east of the Anacostia River, after which the neighborhood is na ...

. Returning to sea aboard the carrier in 1933, Ofstie took command of Fighter Squadron VF-6 for the next two years. Promoted to Lieutenant Commander he was assigned as Assistant Naval Attaché in Tokyo, Japan, and upon completion of that duty he returned to sea as Navigator on the carrier . As an interim assignment, he served on staff duty aboard the carrier USS ''Saratoga'' in 1939 before returning to the ''Enterprise''. Before the United States entered

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Ofstie served on staff duty on the carrier in 1940. With the war in Europe already underway, he next served as Assistant Naval Attaché in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

World War II

Ofstie's first wartime assignment in the United States was as a commander on the staff of

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet ...

Chester W. Nimitz Chester William Nimitz (; February 24, 1885 – February 20, 1966) was a fleet admiral in the United States Navy. He played a major role in the naval history of World War II as Commander in Chief, US Pacific Fleet, and Commander in C ...

, Commander United States Pacific Fleet, 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 ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. Promoted to captain, from 6 November 1943 to 7 August 1944 he commanded the large carrier . During his tenure on ''Essex'', Ofstie was involved in several naval actions. ''Essex'' took part in her first amphibious assault at the

Battle of Tarawa The Battle of Tarawa was fought on 20–23 November 1943 between the United States and Japan at the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, and was part of Operation Galvanic, the U.S. invasion of the Gilberts. Nearly 6,400 Japanese, Koreans, ...

. Her second amphibious assault delivered in company with Task Group 58.2 was against the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Inte ...

in January to February 1944. As part Task Group 68.2 ''Essex'' participated in the attack against Truk,

Operation Hailstone Operation Hailstone ( ja, トラック島空襲, Torakku-tō Kūshū, lit=airstrike on Truk Island), 17–18 February 1944, was a massive United States Navy air and surface attack on Truk Lagoon conducted as part of the American offensive driv ...

, in February 1944. ''Essex'' struck Marcus and Wake Islands in May 1944 and finally deployed with Task Force 58 to support the

Battle of the Philippine Sea The Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19–20, 1944) was a major naval battle of World War II that eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invas ...

and the occupation of the

Mariana Islands The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...

in June 1944.

Escort Carrier Commander and Battle off Samar

In August 1944 Ofstie was promoted to rear admiral and was assigned as Commander Task Group 32.7/Carrier Division 26 with his flag in the escort carrier for the invasion of

Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the ...

in September. Keeping his flag in ''Kitkun Bay'', Carrier Division 26 moved to the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

to support the

Battle of Leyte Gulf The Battle of Leyte Gulf ( fil, Labanan sa golpo ng Leyte, lit=Battle of Leyte gulf; ) was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved. It was fo ...

. Ofstie was assigned to Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague's Task Unit 77.4.3 code name "Taffy III" where his unit was heavily involved in the

Battle off Samar The Battle off Samar was the centermost action of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, one of the largest naval battles in history, which took place in the Philippine Sea off Samar Island, in the Philippines on October 25, 1944. It was the only major a ...

. Pitted against a Japanese naval force consisting of 4 battleships, 6 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, and 11 destroyers, led by Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita, Ofstie's COMCARDIV 26 escort carrier was sunk by Japanese naval gunfire. For this service at Samar, Ofstie was awarded the

Navy Cross The Navy Cross is the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps' second-highest military decoration awarded for sailors and marines who distinguish themselves for extraordinary heroism in combat with an armed enemy force. The medal is eq ...

. Rear Admiral Ofstie's last sea command in World War II was as COMCARDIV 26 at the Invasion of Lingayen Gulf, Philippines, in January 1945. Next, he was assigned to the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey of Japan where he played a key role in interviewing many of the surviving Japanese officials.

Post war service

In 1946, Ofstie was assigned to the Joint Chiefs of Staff Evaluation Group and served at the nuclear tests at

Bikini Atoll Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese: , , meaning "coconut place"), sometimes known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 1800s and 1946 is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. After the Seco ...

. On 11 October 1949, Rear Admiral Ofstie testified before a committee and stated, "strategic air warfare, as practiced in the past and as proposed for the future, is militarily unsound and of limited effect, is morally wrong, and is decidedly harmful to the stability of a post-war world." These comments were related to the "

Revolt of the Admirals The "Revolt of the Admirals" was a policy and funding dispute within the United States government during the Cold War in 1949, involving a number of retired and active-duty United States Navy admirals. These included serving officers Admiral L ...

". During the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

from 1950 to 1951 Ofstie was Commander of Task Force 77. After the Korean War he served as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Air).

Last duties and death

Ofstie's last tour of duty was as Commander, Sixth Fleet in European waters from 1955 to 1956. After only a year, however, Ofstie fell ill and returned to

Bethesda Naval Hospital The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC), formerly known as the National Naval Medical Center and colloquially referred to as the Bethesda Naval Hospital, Walter Reed, or Navy Med, is a United States' tri-service military medi ...

where he died on November 18, 1956. Vice Admiral Ralph Andrew Ofstie and his wife, Captain

Joy Bright Hancock Joy Bright Hancock (4 May 1898 – 20 August 1986), a veteran of both the First and Second World Wars, was one of the first women officers of the United States Navy. Biography Joy Bright was born in Wildwood, New Jersey on 4 May 1898. Durin ...

(Ofstie), are buried together in Section 30, Grave 2138, 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 ...

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ofstie, Ralph 1897 births 1956 deaths United States Naval Academy alumni United States Navy admirals People from Eau Claire, Wisconsin Recipients of the Navy Cross (United States) Recipients of the Silver Star Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the Legion of Merit Burials at Arlington National Cemetery United States Navy World War II admirals Military personnel from Wisconsin