Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: When did Yates Stirling Jr. become an admiral?
On July 20, 1924, he became Captain of the Yard, Navy Yard, Washington, D.C., with additional duty as Assistant Superintendent of the Naval Gun Factory. He was promoted to rear admiral on October 6, 1926 and in December that year Stirling was designated Chief of Staff to Admiral Charles F. Hughes, Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet, based at San Pedro, California.[54] At the October 27, 1927 Navy Day Ceremonies at San Pedro harbor, despite an all-day downpour, thousands of Southern Californians gathered for the festivities, including ships' tours, band performances of patriotic music and the key-note address given by Stirling, "Merchant Marine, the Navy and the Nation".[55]
In 1914, Stirling assumed command of Submarine Flotilla, Atlantic Fleet, attached successively to the USS<i>Ozark(BM-7) and USS<i>Prairie(AD-5). In April 1914, he led a flotilla of torpedo boats into Mexican waters off Vera Cruz during the Tampico Affair.[40] In April 1915, Stirling along with Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt and Admiral Bradley A. Fiske appeared before Congress concerning the deplorable condition of the Atlantic submarine fleet. Stirling testified that of the twelve submarines under his command outside of the Canal Zone, only one could get under way when the fleet was mobilized in November 1914 during World War I.[41][42] From June 1915 until June 1916 he commanded the USS<i>Columbia(C-12) and served additionally as Aide on the Staff of Commander Submarine Flotilla, Atlantic. Speaking before private groups, Stirling continued to raise the ire of Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels with statements criticizing the inadequate readiness of the Navy, "It is because the Navy has been the "ham bone" of politicians that the United States finds itself so unprepared on the seas. Aside from giving us ships and men we must get action from Congress that will let the Navy conduct its own affairs. We have had to take what they gave us- navy yards where we didn't want them, ships of a type we didn't need. During the last 10 years we have spent more money on our navy than Germany, yet the German navy is twice as large and twice as efficient."[43] Stirling's critical outspokenness prompted the press to speculate, not if but when Daniels would order him court-martialed.[44]
During World War Two, Stirling penned scores of articles as a syndicated columnist expressing his opinions on war-time strategies and tactics, under the byline, "United Press Naval Critic" or "United Press Naval Analyst". In 1942, he advocated building a fleet of small, wooden, V-bottom, 30–60' long craft, capable of 30 knots, with two machine guns and six depth charge racks, manned by 3 to 7 men, to patrol the 35,000 miles of U.S. coastline and protect shipping.[70] When Stirling sought to return to active duty in 1944, Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal wrote back that there was no post available "suitable to your rank and attainments".[1] Yates Stirling's last book, touting the strategic importance of his beloved Navy, "Why Sea Power Will Win the War", was published in 1944.
Stirling later recounted, that while on Charleston, where he made numerous forays on the ship's steam launch into the harbor, "I was under more dangerous gunfire in Rio Harbor during that revolution than during the whole of the Spanish War". On one occasion as he prepared to return to ship on the steam launch from the marine arsenal quay, Stirling's curiosity got the better of him as he lingered to observe a skirmish between Brazilian troops and rebels on Villegagnon Island, location of the Brazilian Naval Academy. While Stirling was "foolishly exposing myself to stray bullets", a well-dressed man approached and introduced himself as a Brazilian naval officer and ordnance expert, just returned from England on a British merchant ship. The man told him that he would be shot if captured and implored Stirling to ferry him to Admiral da Gama at Enchades Island. Stirling had been to this small island in the center of the city many times before when delivering messages for Captain Picking. With little thought of the consequences to himself, and noting that "youth is ever romantic and trusting", Stirling bade the rebel, "I cannot offer you asylum, but if you should get into my boat, I could not put you out." The man dove into the launch. Ordering the coxswain to steer in close to the seawall for the Brazilian to jump off, Stirling told his passenger, "A word to the wise is sufficient" and wished him good luck. The next day, as the new Brazilian cruiser Tamandaré began shelling the marine arsenal and the Nictheroy battery, the "enormity of [his] crime" dawned on Stirling. "I had given aid to a rebel. The rebel I had aided was now firing at the government my country recognized. I worried for a while afterward over this most unneutral service I had given, because, if it became known to our captain, he would have no other recourse than to order me before a court-martial. However, I have never regretted my action and have often wondered what became of my Brazilian. I did receive word from him once through one of our medical officers who had seen him on board the Tamandaré after an explosion on that vessel when we had sent medical aid."[30]
"Dale" was launched 23 January 1935 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard; sponsored by Mrs. E. C. Dale; and commissioned 17 June 1935, Commander W. A. Corn in command. Rear Admiral Yates Stirling, Jr., commandant of the Third Naval District and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, oversaw construction and presided over the commissioning. As a fourteen-year-old boy nearly 50 years earlier, Stirling had lived aboard the first USS Dale (1839) when the old, sloop-of-war, her masts removed and at the end of her long service, was the station ship at the Washington Navy Yard under his father's command. "Dale" was decommissioned 16 October 1945 and sold 20 December 1946.
In September 1931 he was designated Commandant, Fourteenth Naval District, with additional duty as Commandant Naval Operating Base, Pearl Harbor, T.H. In 1932, the Massie Trial was conducted in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Hawaiian Islands were at the time part of the 14th Naval District, commanded by Stirling. Stirling's strong belief in the guilt of the five native Hawaiian men charged with rape and assault of a young naval officer's socially prominent wife was well-known, as was his displeasure at the result of a mistrial. "Our first inclination is to seize the brutes and string them up on the trees," he stated, later tempering his reaction with, "we must give the authorities a chance to carry out the law and not interfere."[60] Later, he defended the actions of those involved in the events that led to the homicide of one of the accused, Joseph Kahahawai. Stirling's public statements concerning the Massie Affair would be impolitic and offensive by current social standards nearly a century later; however, they were mostly supported by the contemporary mainstream media, the Navy and Washington. Admiral William V. Pratt, Chief of Naval Operations, announced that, "American men will not stand for the violation of their women under any circumstances. For this crime they have taken the matter into their own hands repeatedly when they have felt that the law has failed to do justice." [61] In a book review of Stirling's 1939 autobiography, the Oakland Tribune wrote, "One of the most difficult tasks of Admiral Stirling's career arose when, as Commandant in Hawaii, he had to handle the Massie tragedy. The chapter devoted to this case will make unpleasant reading for those who insist that polyracial Oriental Hawaii is fit candidate for Statehood."[62] In the 1986 made-for-television movie about the trial, Blood & Orchids, the name of the character representing Stirling was changed to Glenn Langdon.
Upon arrival, retired Rear Admiral Yates Stirling, Jr., senior aide on the staff of Commander, Submarine Flotilla, Atlantic Fleet, inspected the boat and concluded the "G"-boats were crude and inefficient in comparison to current designs. Deeming their military value negligible, he urged that a field of scientific or experimental use be found for them.
Rear Admiral Yates Stirling, Jr., Commandant of the US Navy's 14th Naval District (which included the islands), indicated that his first inclination was to lynch the accused assailants, but that they must give "the authorities a chance to carry out the law and not interfere." In stories printed as the case developed, the local newspapers referred to the men as "thugs", "degenerates" and "fiends", while Thalia was described as "a white woman of refinement and culture".
Rear Admiral Yates Stirling Jr. was awarded these decorations and service awards:
Yates Stirling Jr. (April 30, 1872 – January 27, 1948) was a decorated and controversial rear admiral in the United States Navy whose 44-year career spanned from several years before the Spanish–American War to the mid-1930s. He was awarded the Navy Cross and French Legion of Honor for distinguished service during World War One. The elder son of Rear Admiral Yates Stirling, he was an outspoken advocate of American sea power as a strong deterrent to war and to protect and promote international commerce. During Stirling's naval career and following retirement, he was a frequent lecturer, newspaper columnist and author of numerous books and articles, including his memoirs, Sea Duty: The Memoirs of a Fighting Admiral, published in 1939. Describing himself, Stirling wrote, "All my life I have been called a stormy petrel. I have never hesitated to use the pen to reveal what I considered should be brought to public attention, usually within the Navy, but often to a wider public. I seem to see some benefits that have come through those efforts. I have always believed that a naval man is disloyal to his country if he does not reveal acts that are doing harm to his service and show, if he can, how to remedy the fault. An efficient Navy cannot be run with 'yes men' only."[1]
On 23 February 1900 he joined the USS<i>Celtic(AF-2), and on November 21 of the same year, reported for duty to his father, then a captain and the commandant of the Naval Station, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Following his father's promotion to rear admiral in June 1902, the elder Stirling was named commandant of the Puget Sound Navy Yard, where Yates Jr. joined him shortly thereafter as an officer of the yard.[34] The elder Stirling was commander-in-chief of the United States Asiatic Fleet from 11 July 1904 to 23 March 1905[35] before retiring from the Navy on 6 May 1905 at the mandatory age of 62. During the time he commanded the Asiatic Fleet, his flag was on the USS<i>Wisconsin(BB-9) and Yates Jr. served as his flag lieutenant.[36] While he was with the Asiatic Fleet, Stirling also had staff duty on the USS<i>Rainbow(AS-7). In mid-April 1905, Stirling, his father and their wives returned to the United States from Yokohama, Japan aboard the steamship S.S. Korea after the elder Stirling detached from command of the Asiatic Fleet.[37] In 1905–1906, Stirling remained at sea in the USS<i>Massachusetts(BB-2) and later, USS<i>Indiana(BB-1). In the rank of Lieutenant Commander he reported on October 1, 1906 to the Naval Academy and while on duty there made a cruise on the USS<i>Arkansas(BB-33) in the summer of 1907. Detached from the Naval Academy in June 1908 he next served on the USS<i>Connecticut(BB-18), flagship of Admiral Charles S. Sperry Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet as gunnery officer. Stirling joined Connecticut, at San Francisco, where it was then en route as flagship of the Great White Fleet on a global circumnavigation. Following refit at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, the fleet stood out on the next leg of the voyage on 7 July, reaching Hawaii on 16 July. Sailing from Hawaii, the fleet made ports of call at Auckland, New Zealand; Sydney and Melbourne, Australia; Manila, Philippines; Yokohama, Japan; Colombo, Ceylon; arriving at Suez, Egypt, on 3 January 1909.
In 1923, he was appointed as Director of Naval Intelligence and the following year on 14 June 1924, he was promoted to Rear Admiral. He commanded the Yangtze Patrol from 1925 until 5 December 1927 when command was assumed by Rear Admiral Yates Stirling, Jr. He retired from the Navy in 1935 and died in 1943.
On June 30, 1933, Stirling became Commandant, Third Naval District, Headquarters at New York, New York, and of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, succeeding retiring RADM W. W. Phelps. In an interview following the change of command ceremony, Stirling was asked whether he thought battleships were obsolete, responding, "I would not go so far as that. I do think that battleships have become too expensive, but they are still the greatest offensive and defensive naval weapon. My thought is that an intelligent projectile, like a man-piloted airplane might be better than a projectile from a gun which has to go where it is sent." As to submarines, he commented, "I do think submarines make a battleship feel uncomfortable at sea but submarines and airplanes are still auxiliaries of the battleship." Stirling recalled that his last connection to the Third Naval District was in the closing months of the First World War when he was chief of staff and "trying to put the one-year-old chicken back into its eggshell— that is demobilize". Further demonstrating the characteristic dry-wit and sense of humor that made Stirling a favorite of the press of his day, after reporters had been admitted to his quarters by his aide, Commander Bruce Ware, the new Commandant glanced at the varied assortment of naval pictures adorning the walls and laughingly described it as "the chamber of horrors". Stirling declined to comment on his future plans for the Brooklyn Naval Yard and when questioned about the highly publicized events of his just completed command of the Fourteenth Naval District at Hawaii, said that it was "a closed book".
Rear Admiral Stirling died in his sleep on January 27, 1948, after three months’ illness in Baltimore, Maryland, his home for many years, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.[75] He was survived by his wife, two sons, Captain Yates Stirling, III, USN (Ret.) of Norfolk, Virginia, and Commander Harry E. Stirling USN; and three daughters, Katharine (Mrs. William R. Ilk) of Los Angeles, California and Misses Ellen and Adelaide Stirling of Baltimore. Also surviving was his younger brother, Commander Archibald G. Stirllng, USN (Ret.) of Newport, Rhode Island.
As a boy living in Baltimore's upper west side, Stirling attended public schools where despite a professed dislike of physical combat, he had a reputation of being a fighter.[9] While his father was at sea for as long as three years at a time, Stirling had a happy home life with a mother that instilled a love for reading and provided private teachers that enabled him to skip grades at school, though Stirling admitted he was not a good student.[10] During his father's cruise absences, the family's only knowledge of his well-being came in bulky packets of letters arriving in bunches over long intervals that Stirling's mother, Ellen, would read aloud to her children. The exciting details of life on a warship—"gales, tropical coral reefs, savage people, hunting, and yellow fever"—influenced Stirling's desire for the naval life.[11] But he saw that it was not without sacrifice. A younger brother was about three when Stirling's father left Baltimore for a long cruise. A few months later, the boy contracted diphtheria and died. Another younger brother, Archie, was born shortly after that. Yates Stirling Jr. wondered how his father must have felt when he returned home and saw a new son that was nearly the same age as the one he had lost.[12]
Born in 1718, Walter Stirling entered the Royal Navy. He was made "The Regulating Captain of the Impress at the Tower". On 30 October 1753 he married Dorothy Willing, the daughter of Charles Willing, a Philadelphia merchant. According to family stories, he persuaded the family of Horatio Nelson to let Horatio join the navy, and he lost the opportunity to be appointed Governor of Halifax as he was visiting his wife in Scotland when the offer came in. In 1780 he was captain of the "Gibraltar", and was present when Admiral George Rodney captured the island of Sint Eustatius from the Dutch during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War. Selected to take home dispatches, he was knighted on arrival. In 1783 he appointed Commander-in-Chief, The Nore. When King George III inspected Stirling's ships, he was so impressed that he offered to make Stirling a baronet. Stirling declined, but his eldest son, also named Walter, later claimed the title, becoming Sir Walter Stirling, 1st Baronet of Faskine. He died in London in November 1786. His second surviving son, Charles, also became an admiral. A grandson by his daughter Anne was James Stirling, first Governor of Western Australia, and himself an admiral in later life.
After the war, Stirling served aboard the gunboat in the Pacific Squadron from 1865 to 1867 and was promoted to lieutenant on 10 November 1866. Promoted to lieutenant commander on 12 March 1868, he was aboard the newly commissioned screw frigate during her brief initial deployment as flagship of the North Atlantic Squadron in 1868. He then served aboard the next flagship of the squadron, the screw sloop-of-war , from 1868 to 1869 before a tour aboard the receiving ship at the Mare Island Navy Yard at Vallejo, California, from 1871 to 1872. While stationed at Mare Island, his son and namesake, Yates, Jr. was born on 30 April 1872.
Yates Stirling (6 May 1843 – 5 March 1929) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy.
Stirling's first published fiction, a short story titled, The Battle off the Hook, appeared in the August 31, 1897 edition of Harper's Roundtable.[31] A contemporary review described it as, "[a] vivid account by Ensign Yates Stirling Jr. U.S.N. of a great sea fight off Sandy Hook, in which the United States fleet engages that of a first rate power. The date is tantalizingly vague, the identity of the enemy only hinted, but the issue of the battle is what every patriotic American boy will anticipate."[32]
Stirling was commander-in-chief of the United States Asiatic Fleet from 11 July 1904 to 23 March 1905 before retiring from the Navy on 6 May 1905 at the mandatory age of 62. During the time he commanded the Asiatic Fleet, his flag was on the USS Wisconsin (BB-9) and his son, Yates, Jr. served as his flag lieutenant. When he was interviewed shortly after his retirement, Stirling recalled an incident early in his career when he was first lieutenant taking a ship into a New England harbor with some difficulty. An old lobsterman in a dory piled high with traps managed to interfere with the ship's passage. After Stirling called down to the lobsterman with some "choice deep sea language", the old man leisurely rested on his oars and replied, "And who be you?" Stirling blustered back, "Who am I? I'm the first officer of this ship." "Well, go to your skipper, then," replied the ancient mariner with dignity. "I don't argue with nobody but my equals an I'm cap'n o' this."
Yates Stirling Jr. was born in Vallejo, California, in 1872 to Lieutenant Commander Yates Stirling Sr. (1843–1929) (United States Naval Academy Class of 1863)[2] and his wife, Ellen Salisbury (née Hale) Stirling (1843–1929).[3] At the time of Yates Jr.'s birth, his father was assigned to the USS<i>Independence, receiving ship at Mare Island Naval Shipyard.[4] From an established Maryland family, Stirling was a great-grandson of Thomas Yates (1740–1815), Captain, Fourth Battalion, Maryland Regulars during the American Revolutionary War.[5] When he was about four, Stirling's family moved to Baltimore, Maryland, the home of his father and grandfather.[6] He was one of five children that survived to adulthood and the oldest of two boys, both of whom followed their father's footsteps to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. His younger brother, Commander Archibald G. Stirling (1884–1963) (United States Naval Academy Class of 1906) retired in 1933 but returned to active duty from 1942 to 1945 during World War II.[7] The Yates Stirling family was the second in U.S. Naval history to have father and son flag officers (rear admirals) living at the same time.[8] The first were Rear Admirals Thomas O. Selfridge Sr. and Jr.
Stirling had duty as a lighthouse inspector from December 1892 to December 1894 and was promoted to captain on 16 September 1894. He awaited orders from December 1894 until May 1895, then was commanding officer of the protected cruiser from May 1895 to July 1896 and of the screw sloop-of-war from July 1896 to June 1897. He was commander of the South Atlantic Squadron from July to December 1897. After duty as a member of the Lighthouse Board from 31 March 1898 to 1 July 1900, he became commandant of Naval Station San Juan in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on 21 November 1900, serving in that capacity into 1902. In May 1900, while commandant at San Juan, Captain Stirling rescued the Lloyd's agent there, a man named Butler who had jumped off the municipal pier that had caught fire. Stirling was promoted to rear admiral on 8 June 1902. Following his promotion, he was named commandant of the Puget Sound Navy Yard, where his son, Yates, Jr. joined him shortly thereafter as an officer of the yard.
Stirling married the former Adelaide Egbert, daughter of Brigadier General Harry C. Egbert,[71] in 1903 when he was 31. They had five children, two boys and three girls. His eldest son, Yates Stirling, III became a captain in the Navy. His younger son, Harry, also served in the Navy and attained the rank of commander.[72]
Although Stirling's three years as Commandant of the Third Naval District and the Brooklyn Navy Yard were during the depths of the Great Depression, under his command the facility saw increased production and workforce. The heavy cruiser USS New Orleans (CA-32) was commissioned in February 1934, the destroyer USS Dale (DD-353) and gunboat USS Erie (PG-50) were both built and commissioned along with a few Coast Guard cutters. Construction began on the light cruisers USS Brooklyn (CL-40) and USS Honolulu (CL-48). While he was Commandant at New York, Stirling's official duties saw him frequently receiving foreign dignitaries, including Air Marshall Italo Balbo during the famed Italian aviator's widely-covered 1933 trans-Atlantic crossing with twenty-four Savoia-Marchetti S.55 seaplanes for the Chicago Century of Progress. When Balbo's air armada stopped at New York City on the first leg of its return flight to Rome in July 1933, Stirling's admiral's barge met Balbo's plane when it landed in Jamaica Bay off Floyd Bennett Field. Stirling and his Army counterpart, Major General Dennis E. Nolan, commanding general of Second Corps Area, in charge of army units and facilities in New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Puerto Rico, accompanied Balbo's police escort motorcade to the Mayflower Hotel. Stirling had requested an allowance from the Navy Department for the purpose of hosting a dinner for Balbo on his first night in New York. Receiving only $50 from Washington, the socially-connected and popular Stirling was undeterred. "Through the support of men of means who were Navy admirers, I gave to General Balbo and his officers a most elaborate dinner at the Columbian Yacht Club on the Hudson River, now demolished in the development of the Park project. How such a dinner could be given, with over a hundred guests and champagne flowing freely, on the small voucher that I signed, would be no mystery when the guest list is read. Among them were Vincent Astor, Grover Whalen, Ellery W. Stone, E. J. Sadler, and W. S. Farish, all public spirited citizens and some of them members of the Naval Reserve. It has always been difficult for the services to interest Congress in the advantage of appropriating sufficient funds for official entertaining. Balbo enjoyed himself at the dinner, and we were all glad to have such an intimate view of him and his daring men. I regretted that I did not speak Italian or he English, but there was a fellowship developed that evening between the Italian flyers and our other guests, in spite of the handicap of language. I was surprised months later to receive from the great Mussolini the decoration of the Crown of Italy. It was in recognition of the Navy's help to Balbo and his airplanes while in New York."
Commodore – no longer a rank in the United States Navy, was previously reserved for wartime use and was not in use at the time of Stirling's promotion to Flag Rank in 1926. Currently, a Captain who is promoted to pay grade O-7 becomes a Rear Admiral (Lower Half) and uses the abbreviated rank designation RDML as opposed to RADM, which designates a Rear Admiral (Upper Half), O-8. Stirling was promoted to Rear Admiral "lower half" in December 1926, with date of rank October 6, 1926. He was advanced to Rear Admiral (upper half) on 1 June 1931.