Sailors from USS Pelias and USS Widgeon attempt rescue during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Allan Rockwell "Rocky" McCann was born in North Adams, Massachusetts 20 September 1896, to James Allan McCann, and Carolyne "Carrie" Utman McCann. He was raised in North Adams, Massachusetts, and graduated from Drury High school in the Class of 1913. Allan served in the US Navy from 1917-1950. Born in North Adams, Massachusetts 20 September 1896, to James Allan McCann, and Carolyne (Carrie) Utman McCann. Allan married Katheryne Frances Gallup in 1928, and they had three daughters, Barbara McCann, Lois McCann, and Carolyn McCann. He was raised in North Adams, Massachusetts, and graduated from Drury High school in the Class of 1913. Allan McCann entered the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland in 1913, graduating in 1917, and then graduated from U.S. Navy Submarine School in 1919. The cadets nicknamed him Philip, or "Mac", he preferred "Rocky", but signed as AR McCann. Vice Admiral Allan R. McCann, USN (Ret) Service Record, and Biographical information extraction from his personnel file. 1901-1913 - attended Mark Hopkins Grammar School, and Drury High School in North Adams, Massachusetts 23 Jun 1913 - Appointment to the US Naval Academy, Midshipman, from the First District of Massachusetts, studying structural engineering. 6 June 1914 - Joined USS Illinois (BB-7) 28 Aug 1914 - Cruise completed total sea duty: 2 mos. 23 days. Illinois (BB-7) made a training cruise to Europe with Midshipmen. 5 June 1915 - Joined USS Missouri (BB-11) 8 Sep 1915 - Cruise completed total sea duty: 5 mos. 27 days. 3 June 1916 - Joined USS Ohio 28 Aug 1916 - Cruise completed total sea duty: 8 mos. 23 days. March 1917 - Graduated, and commissioned an ensign in the US Navy. 6 October 1918 - Married at North Adams, Massachusetts to Katheryne Frances Gallup. Home Address 36 Cherry Street, North Adams, Massachusetts. 24 Mar 1917- Det. Naval Academy 29 March, and attached to the Battleship KANSAS, reporting 2 Apr. 24 March 1917-1919 - Assigned to USS Kansas (Battleship No.21) in which he served until September 1919. Kansas had entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard for overhaul on 30 September 1916. 6 April 1917 USS Maine underway, 1918 The United States entered World War I on March 7th, 1917. She arrived in York River from Philadelphia on 10 July, and joined the 4th Battleship Division, spending the remainder of the war as an engineering training ship in the Chesapeake Bay. On 6 April 1917, the United States declared war on Germany, entering World War I. During the war, Maine was employed as a training ship for engine room personnel, armed guards for merchant ships, and midshipmen from the US Naval Academy. On 11 November 1918, Germany signed the Armistice that ended the conflict. Maine participated in a naval review held in New York on 26 December to celebrate the Allied victory. Maine remained on the east coast with the Atlantic Fleet. On 15 May 1920, she was decommissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and was reclassified as BB-10 on 17 July. 28 May 1917 - Commissioned regular Ensign from 30 March 1917. 5 June 1917 - Took Oath of Office, accepted commission as Ensign from 30 March 1917. 1 July 1917 - Lieutenant, temporary. 1 February 1918 - Lieutenant. Fulton (Submarine Tender #1), at Coco Solo, 1923 23 September 1918 - Det., and attached to the submarine School aboard the USS FULTON (submarine tender number one) on 1 Oct. for duty under instruction in submarines. Detached 24 Sept., reported 1 Oct. Through 1920. K-6 (S-37) 11 December 1919 - Detached, and attached to the USS K-6 (Submarine No. 37), assumed Command of USS K-6 on 18 May 1920. After overhaul, K-6 proceeded to New London, Connecticut 28 May 1919, to resume development and tactical operations along the New England coast. S-19 20 September 1920 Detached from USS K-6, transferred to Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Quincy, Massachusetts, For duty connected to fitting out USS S-19 (Submarine No. 124). 27 September 1920. (before its commissioning) Assumed Command USS S-19 (Submarine No. 124) 5 November 1921 Ad interim Lieutenant, junior grade, effective 30 March 1920. SS-56 SS-57 Submarines N-4 (SS-56), and N-5 (SS S-57) (in decommissioning). 7-12 January 1921 - Detached from S-19 to Command the submarine USS N-4 (SS-56). N-4 sailed for New London in early April 1921, she operated off the New England coast, out of Newport, and New London until she put into New London 6 December 1921 N-4 arrives in New London Connecticut to have her main engines removed, and transferred to a newer L-class submarine. 13 April 1922 Tug Sagamore (AT-20) towed the hulk of N-4 to Philadelphia. She arrived and was decommissioned on 22 April 1922. 31 March 1921 - Commissioned as Regular Lieutenant, Junior Grade, effective 30 March 1920, (No O&A required) 10 June 1921 - Commissioned Regular Lieutenant effective 1 July 1920. L-3 4 February 1922 - Detached to additional Duty in Command of USS L-3 (SS-42), at New London, Connecticut reporting 21 February 1922, submarine L-3 operated along the East Coast, performing experiments, and developing submarine warfare tactics. 26 January 1922 L-3 conducted operations out of New London, Connecticut. 6 April 1922 - Relinquished Command of USS N-4, which was decommissioned. Continue as Commander of USS L-3. Command until 27 June 1922. The main engines of N-4 are transferred to L-3. R-21 (SS-98) June 1922 - Assigned to Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, Command of USS R-21 (SS-98) from 1 July 1922 until 29 April 1924 when the USS R-21 was decommissioned. Through the spring, and summer months, R-21 operated out of New London, and Newport. The craft of Submarine Division 1 sailed from New London on 2 October 1922 for Coco Solo. R-21 served as flagship as the boats cruised via Hampton Roads and Guantanamo. After 11 days out, R-24 developed engine trouble and was temporarily taken under tow by R-21. The Cuba-bound steamer SS Bethore rendered assistance, and R-21 arrived at Coco Solo on 27 October. R-21 spent the rest of her active Navy days operating out of Coco Solo and undergoing repairs at Balboa. She sailed from Coco Solo for the last time on 15 February 1923 in company with a tender, USS Quail (AM-15), and eight other submarines. Two days later R-21’s engines malfunctioned. The disabled submarine was taken under tow by the escorting tender and pulled to Guantanamo Bay. Voyage repairs were quickly accomplished. The R-boat then resumed her northern transit, on 22 February 1923, and proceeded to the Philadelphia Navy Yard at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...via a repair layover at the Charleston Navy Yard at Charleston, South Carolina. (McCann returned to Coco Solo, but remained administratively in Command), R-21 sailed for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 22 February 1923, arriving there via Charleston, South Carolina, 9 November 1923. R-21 was decommissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 21 June 1924, and placed in the reserve fleet at that Navy yard. 1 July 1922 - Command USS R-21, Coco Solo, Canal Zone. October 29, 1923 - Rescue of Submarine 0-5, 1923, near Gatun Locks. Posted as an on-scene engineer during raising the submarine. Two lives saved, first submarine related Medal of Honor given. 29 April 1924 - Detached from administrative command of USS R-21, at Coco Solo, Canal Zone. USS Chewink, (AM-39/ASR-3) 21 June 1924 - En route to USS Chewink, (AM-39), at Submarine Base, New London, Connecticut. USS Chewink was a minesweeper then submarine tender. 12 July 1924 - Duty aboard USS Chewink, (AM-39) Instructor in Diesel Engineering. 17 November 1925 - Chief Engineer, and Repair Officer, Submarine Base at New London, Connecticut, (Still assigned USS Chewink) Assigned additional duty as Technical Advisor to the Peruvian Naval Commission (Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut.) 18 October 1926 - Detached from USS Chewink. USS V-2, and USS S-46 24 November 1926 - Commanded the submarine USS S-46 (SS-157), based at Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone. The submarine performed a schedule of local operations, from Coco Solo, and from Balboa, Panama, which were interrupted only for semi-annual extended training cruises, and annual fleet problems (Operational Readiness Inspections) in the Caribbean Sea, and the Pacific Ocean. Repairs and overhauls were performed at Balboa. In 1927, SubDiv 19 was transferred to the Battle Fleet, and based at San Diego, California, with Mare Island Naval Shipyard as homeward for its boats. S-46 departed Panama on 11 June; arrived at San Diego on 31 July 1927; then proceeded, via Mare Island attached to Pearl Harbor to participate in tactical exercises with other Battle Fleet submarines. During the latter part of August, she participated in the search for missing Dole Air Race pilots; and, at the end of the month, she headed back to San Diego for two months of local operations. In December, she returned to Mare Island for an overhaul; and, in June 1928, she resumed operations out of her home port. 1 May 1929 - Detached USS S-46 19 March 1929 - 18 July 1931 - Design Division, Bureau of Construction, and Repair (now Bureau of Ships), Navy Department, Washington, DC - assigned to diving operations in connection with the development of submarine escape apparatus, at Philadelphia Navy Yard, and was in charge of the development of a submarine rescue chamber. Training with the Momsen lung Others assigned to this task were: Cmdr. Charles B. Momsen, Gunner's Mate Clarence Tibbals, and Lieutenant Carlton Shugg, who would later be head of Electric Boat, and an Assistant Director of the Atomic Energy Commission. Shugg's future contributions would be essential in developing a nuclear reactor for submarines. McCann's additional duty in this assignment was as Liaison Officer/Engineer in the refit of Submarine 0-12, which became the 'Nautilus', and attempted the first under-ice crossing of the Arctic sea, a mission which failed. (The Wilkins-Ellsworth Trans Arctic Submarine Expedition of 1931). The submarine underwent extensive modifications, and McCann directed the engineering aspects, working under Simon Lake, as the US Navy's representative to the Project. Part of his contribution was an Air Lock, and integrated Diving Chamber built into what had been the forward Torpedo room of USS 0-12. Additionally, the Conning Tower of 0-12 was modified to become retractable. The feat was amazing considering that the modification must remain pressure-tight while submerged. Experimental diving was conducted by special units like the US Navy's Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU) which involves meeting military needs through the research, and development of diving practices, and diving equipment, testing new types of equipment and finding more effective, and safer ways to perform dives, and related activities. The US NEDU was responsible for much of the experimental diving work to calculate, and validate decompression tables, and algorithms, and has since worked on such developments including mixed gas diving equipment. The Rescue Chamber Project Chamber co-designers. Lieutenant Carlton Shugg, USN (CC), co-designer of submarine rescue chamber and designer of the New London submarine escape training tower; Lieutenant Norman S. Ives, USN, Commanding Officer of USS S-4 (SS-109); Lieutenant Charles B. Momsen, USN, developer of the submarine escape "lung"; Chief Gunner Clarence Tibbals, USN, co-developer of the submarine escape "lung", and the submarine rescue chamber. He was in charge of US Navy salvage operations. Lieutenant Armand M. Morgan. All these members of NEDU were hard hat divers. July 31st, 1931, wide world photos. Reference number 577771 Test new device for subsea rescue. Dateline: New York City A new submarine rescue chamber designed to bring crews of crippled submarines to the surface without exposing them to undo variations in pressure, received its first test at the Brooklyn Navy Yard yesterday. The rescue chamber is of steel construction shaped roughly like a pear. It is 10 ft high, 8 at the top, and 5 at the bottom. The interior is divided into upper, and lower compartments. The upper compartment, entered through a hatch at the top, houses the crew. A hatch in the floor leads to the lower compartment which connects with the sea. The lower compartment contains 600 ft of wire cable reeled on hauling down "winch". In making a rescue the diver first descends and fastens the cable to the crippled submarine, and the rescue chamber is pulled down with the winch. When the chamber has landed on the submarine the water in the lower compartment is blown into a ballast tank. The rescue hatch is then opened, and the crew, 10 or 12 at a time, pass out through the open hatches into the upper compartment of the rescue chamber. Above is an interior view of the chamber with Lieutenant Commander AR McCann, left, and lieutenant Armand M Morgan testing the telephone. Photographed at New London, Connecticut, circa the Winter of 1928-29. Courtesy of Mr. Wallace Shugg, 1984. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph The USS S-1, with Water-tight Hangar. The S-1 used a small aircraft housed in a pressurized hangar on the deck. When it was deemed too unwieldy, the plan was scrapped. The hangar, however, was salvaged and used to make the Momsen-McCann Diving Bell Prototype, which was a precursor to the design used to rescue the crew of the Squalus in 1939. Momsen who developed the Momsen Lung, at this time was Skipper of the S-1. 18 November 1929 - Commissioned as a Lieutenant Commander effective 6 June 1929. Momsen-McCann Diving Bell Prototype (one of two) Before October 1931 - Commander Momsen was detached to commence crew training using the Momsen Lung, and Lt. Comdr. McCann continued with the redesign of the Momsen-McCann Diving bell, making improvements, the result was an improved new chamber, called the McCann Submarine Rescue Chamber (a newer larger version is still in use as the "Submarine Rescue Chamber (SRC)") the Navy designated these vessels as YRC. McCann Submarine Rescue Chamber The McCann Submarine Rescue Chamber is a device developed in 1929-1930, from a design co-designed by Lt. Cmdr. Allan R. McCann, Lt. Cmdr. Charles B. Momsen, Lt. Carlton Shugg, and Gunner's Mate Clarence Tibbals, which was called the Momsen-McCann Diving Bell. Two prototypes were built from the pressure chamber previously used on submarine S-1, the prototype bells are erroneously called McCann-Erickson bells on several websites at least one of the two prototypes was present during the rescue of the squalis. The Purpose of the device was to enable the removal of crews from sunken Submarines. A history of several submarine sinkings since the early part of the twentieth century led to the development of the concept by Cmdr. Momsen, and he initiated the project. Alan McCann had also submitted similar proposals. Momsen had developed an interest in rescuing crews from submarines based on his history of working submarine salvage, and inability to rescue crews trapped in previous sinkings, although the trapped crews were alive when divers arrived at the sunken subs. In addition to Momsen, and McCann the primary participants in this project were: Lieutenant Carlton Shugg, a co-designer of the submarine rescue chamber, and designer of the New London Ct. submarine escape training tower, later became Deputy Director of the Atomic Energy Commission, and director of (General Dynamics) Electric Boat, the company that made many of the submarines the Navy uses, including the Nuclear Submarines. Gunner's Mate Clarence Tibbals, co-developer of the submarine escape "lung", and of the submarine rescue chamber (Note: there is an academic achievement award at West Point named after him). Cmdr. McCann, who had been present at the only successful submarine crew recovery operation, the raising of Submarine 0-5 in 1923, off Gatun Lock of the Panama Canal, near Coco Solo, joined the project at an early date. He was like Momsen a submarine Commander and had an engineering background. McCann like Momsen had submitted plans, and ideas including a submarine rescue chamber to the Navy previously. They would work together many times in their careers. The development of escape devices for submarines was already in the works in several navies around the world, but the projects were not shared internationally. Momsen had begun by his development, and self-initiated testing of the Momsen Lung, a rebreathing device that allows oxygen to be used in a rebreather bag, cleansed chemically of CO2, to allow a crewman to ascend from up to 250 feet. When the Navy found out about his independent efforts, and that a prototype had already been successfully tested, they adopted the device and assigned him to teach in its use. To this end, he was deployed to tour the Submarine bases, and teach. This left Lt. Cmdr. McCann in charge of the Bell program, and the subsequent redesign, and finalization of the concept. Previously, Momsen while in operational command of Submarine S-1 was working on a project that was designed to encapsulate a seaplane on the deck of a submarine, and allow that seaplane to be launched, and recovered at sea, by the submarine. The project ground to a halt when it was determined that the time required to launch and recover the plane left the submarine on the surface for far too long to be an effective use in wartime. (The Japanese went much further with this concept, developing the I-400 class of undersea carrier submarines in WWII.) The incoming captain of S-1, in 1927, wanted permission to uninstall the airtight hangar capsule and wanted disposition instructions. Momsen sent the capsule to NY to be cut in two and had the halves made into the prototype diving bells, the Momsen-McCann design. These prototypes were open-bottomed bells, and the design was faulty for the purpose, Momsen stated in 1939, that they tended to "tip, and fill with water". Also, the capacity was limited to very few people, they needed to be bigger. One of the two Momsen - McCann prototype bells. The photograph was taken in 1939 during the recovery of the sunken submarine Squalus aboard the USS Widgeon. It was at this point that Momsen left the Diving Bell program. Commander McCann continued with a basic redesign, and manufacture of a prototype device. The device was modified to double interior space, had a floor bulkhead installed with a watertight hatch, adaptive skirting to interface with the submarine deck, and a pneumatic haul down system installed. The new bell operated by use of an umbilical from the surface which provided the air for the haul down the device, and breathing. Communications Invented by Commander McCann, were also hard-wired into the bell. The Bell also had ballast tanks that could help stabilize, and control ascension rates. The Navy adopted the Bell, and had twelve made, naming it the McCann Submarine Rescue Chamber, or simply SRC. (YRC 1 through 12). In 1930 the SRC was completed, and testing began, using submarine S-4, a boat which had been raised months earlier after sinking with all hands lost. The S-4 had been reconfigured to be a 'sinkable' classroom for submarine escape. It had been initially used for the Momsen Lung training, and now that training would be supplemented with Rescue Chamber training. Submarines were modified by adding anchor rings next to each hatch, forward, and aft. These rings were added as attaching points for the Chamber. A diver would attach haul down cables to these rings which, running up to a rescue ship above, would allow the rescue chamber to be lowered exactly into position over the hatch, for a watertight seal. Water would be pumped or blown out of the skirt of the rescue chamber, and a pressure seal would be established, in addition, hold-down bars would 'lock' the seals so increased pressures from the submarine would not dislodge the Chamber upon hatch opening. Each submarine would be modified with two escape trunks one forward, and one aft of the conning tower. This gives the chamber operators a 'dry' space to transfer crew through and allows the crew to enter the Chamber directly. The Chamber as originally designed could hold 8-9 personnel safely. This system also allows the submarine's ambient air to be exchanged directly from the surface. The ascent phase was the opposite of the docking phase, seal the submarine hatch, unlock the skirt hold-downs, seal the floor hatch of the chamber, flood the skirt, and mechanically retrieve the Chamber to the surface with the haul-down system, using the ballast tanks to achieve, and maintain neutral buoyancy. McCann also designed the submarine rescue buoy and a telephone system that would attach the submarine to the rescue buoy. The tethered buoy also had signaling flares to signal for distress. Redesigning the Nautilus (USS O-12) 1931 additional duty of engineering liaison officer on a project converting Submarine 0-12 to under-ice use, for the Sir George Hurbert Wilkins expedition to circumnavigate the north pole. The 0-12 became the Nautilus, and although the submarine's mission to the arctic failed, it became a point in the history of the submarine that would later be revisited by McCann. Wilkins 'leased' the Nautilus from the US Navy for $1. Initial modifications were begun at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, but when that facility was unable to perform the required work the submarine was moved across the river to the Mathis Shipyard in Camden, New Jersey. Thirty-two new features were added to the boat, designed by the original builder, Simon Lake. These included a cushioned guide arm, a cushioning bowsprit 12 feet long to act as a bumper, an ice drill to provide access to the surface in case the submarine was unable to break through the ice, an emergency air intake system, and a diving chamber. The original superstructure was removed, and the conning tower and periscope were modified to be retractable. Lake also had the deck fittings enclosed within a wooden superstructure four feet wide, and six feet high, inside of which he installed extra buoyancy chambers, which he considered necessary to prevent loss of stability during surfacing. On top of the superstructure, Lake installed iron-shod "sledge runners", and two cleats at each end. Wilkins did not concur with all of the modifications introduced by Lake, fearing that they were more likely dangers than aids. A verbal agreement between the two men, however, gave Lake the final say. Rechristened the Nautilus after Jules Verne's fictional vessel, the boat's record during the expedition was less than stellar. Plagued by mechanical difficulties, and engine problems from the start, the crew were less than confident in their vessel's capabilities. When Captain Danenhower noticed that the diving rudders were missing on August 22, he suspected sabotage by the crew, and as a result of the damage, many of the scientific experiments had to be canceled. After spending some additional time in the arctic, Wilkins headed back to port in Bergen, Norway, having failed in his mission. (source: [external link] V-3, The USS Bonita 8 August 1931 - Command of USS BONITA, Consecutive duty with the Board of Inspection, and Survey, Pacific Coast Section, at San Francisco, California, and Long Beach, California. Bonita underwent an overhaul, and modification at Coco Solo. 19 December 1931 From: Secretary of the Navy. Lieutenant Commander Allan R. McCann, U.S.N. Commanding U.S.S. BONITA Via: Commander Submarine Division 12, Submarine Force. SUBJECT: Commendation. 1. The Officer in Charge, Submarine Safety Tests, and the Chief of Bureau of Construction, and Repair has been pleased to commend you to the Department for exceptional services in connection with the development of a submarine rescue chamber. It is noted that through your intelligent application of an intimate knowledge of submarine materiel, and submarine operation, and the various problems involved in deep-sea diving, and through great personal risk in subjecting yourself to the dangers of underwater submarine abandonment while in the experimental stage, you have contributed directly, and in large measure to the successful development of means for rescuing entrapped personnel from sunken submarines. 2. The Department takes pleasure in commending you for your ability, and devotion to duty as set forth above. Your disregard of personal safety In the interests of the service, in connection with experimental work with the submarine rescue chamber, is in keeping with the highest traditions of the Naval service. 3. A copy of this letter will be made part of your official record. C. F. Adams. Copy to; Press Room BuNav News Bulletin Officers records home address: 28 Spring St., North Adams, Mass. 4 March 1934 - Additional Duty, Board of Inspection, and Survey, Pacific Coast Section, Long Beach, Ca. until Detached 15 April 1936 11 April 1935 - Additional Duty, Board of Inspection, and Survey, Pacific Coast Section, San Francisco, Ca. until Detached 5 June 1937 1 Aug 1935 - Bonita attends "Fleet Week" in Seattle Washington. USS Indianapolis 18 April 1936 - joined USS Indianapolis (CA-35) as First Lieutenant, and Damage Control Officer. McCann is seated in the front row, second from the right. 7 June 1937 - Damage Control Officer on the staff of Commander Cruisers, Scouting Force, USS Chicago (CA-29) until detached 18 June 1938. The Scouting Force operated from its homeport at San Pedro, California. 24 May 1938 - Navy Department, Bureau of Navigation (now Bureau of Naval Personnel) reported 25 July 1938, as Planning Officer, Office of Personnel Division. Uss Squalus (Later USS Sailfish) May 23, 1939 - Ordered to duty in connection with the rescue of the crew, and salvage of USS Squalus (SS-192) sunk during a trial run off Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He received a "Well Done" commendation from the President of the United States for the success of this extremely difficult operation. Four of the Navy Divers under his command received the Medal Of Honor. Navy Department IMMEDIATE RELEASE 16 September 1939 The President of the United States has addressed letters of Commendation to Rear Admiral Cyrus V. Cole, U. S. N., Commander SQUALUS Salvage Unit, and attached to the SQUALUS Salvage Unit. The letters of commendation follow: "From The Commander in Chief. To: Rear Admiral Cyrus W. Cole, U.S.N. Commander, SQUALUS Salvage Unit. Via: (1) The Secretary of the Navy, (2) Commandant, First Naval District. Subject: Commendation, 1. Upon the occasion of the completion of the salvage operations of the U.S.S. SQUALUS, the Commander in Chief expresses his appreciation of the services rendered by you as Commander of the SQUALUS Salvage Unit in the rescue of the survivors, and the salvage of the stricken submarine. 2. The successful termination of your task, labor involving continuous conflict with contrary weather, and apparently insurmountable difficulties, indicate leadership, exact planning, and perseverance of the highest order. 3. I commend you for the manner in which you have brought this extremely difficult operation to its successful completion. The Secretary of the Navy is directed to have a copy of this letter made a part of your official your of the official record. 4. Please take appropriate action toward official recognition of the accomplishments of the officers, and men of the Salvage Unit." S/ Franklin D. Roosevelt "From The Commander in Chief, To The SQUALUS Salvage Unit. VIA: The Secretary of the Navy. Subject: Commendation. 1. The Commander in Chief expresses to all of you his appreciation of the untiring devotion to duty, courage, skill, Initiative, and self-sacrifice shown in the operations resulting In the rescue of the survivors, and finally in the successful salvage of the U.S.S. Squalus. These hazardous, and grueling tasks have been accomplished despite obstacles imposed by bad weather, and unfavorable conditions incident to the great depth of water in which the Squalus was submerged. 2. Your determined, and efficient efforts have held the attention of the entire nation, and the successful completion of this unprecedented task merits the highest approval and admiration. 3. I commend you for upholding the reputation of the Navy in Accordance with its time-honored traditions. 4. Well done!!" /s/ Franklin D. Roosevelt. Squalus Recovery USS Falcon with McCann Rescue Chamber on Aft deck. (Medal Of Honor Awardees) Allan R. McCann is on the Far-right. SQUIRE, Walter H., Chief Torpedoman, U.S.N. Born 24 July 1908 at Los Angeles, First enlisted 30 April, 1934, as Apprentice Seaman at Navy Recruiting Station, Los Angeles. Designated Master Diver on 17 June, 1939. Home address: 1809 Burke St, S.L, Washington, D. C. McDonald, James H., Chief Metalsmith, U.S.N. Born 15 July, 1902, at New Mand, Scotland, First enlisted 15 October, 1920, as Fireman third class at Navy Recruiting Station, Denver, Colorado. Designated Master Diver on 30 September, 1934. Home address: Trinidad, Colorado. FRYE, Henry H., Ship Fitter 1st class, U.S.N. Born 27 September 19O6, at Golconda, Illinois Enlisted 6 August, 1924, as apprentice Seaman at Navy Recruiting Station, St. Louis, Mo. Designated Diver first class on 27 June, 1935. Home Address: 300 Pecan St., Carbondale, Illinois. THOMPSON, John Wilbur, Torpedoman 1st class, U.S.N. Born: 15 January 1910, at Fort Dodge, Iowa Enlisted 2 March, 1929 at Minneapolis, Minnesota Designated Diver 1st class. Home address: Waterford, Connecticut. Read Commander Charles B. Momsen's speech on the Squalus accident, rescue, and salvage operations. November 23, 1939 - North Adams Tribune, North Adams, Massachusetts - Navy Gives 13 Nations plans for McCann Bell Submarine Rescue Chamber invented by North Adams Native Made Available to other Countries as "Humanitarian Device" Germany, Russia, France, and Japan among those given the Blueprints - Great Britain, and Italy fail to request Data - Use as War Weapon of a device which saved 33 from Squalus held Unlikely - Improvements Underway. The "McCann Rescue Chamber" designed by Commander Allan R. McCann, United States Navy, a native of North Adams, and used effectively by the Navy in the rescue of 33 men from the sunken submarine Squalus last May, is now made available to 13 other nations, including Germany, Russia, France, and Japan, as a "Humanitarian Device". Sought Plans Blueprints and additional data on the rescue chamber have been given to 13 nations by the Navy high Command, after a conference with the State Department at Washington. These countries obviously impressed by the tremendous success of the rescue chamber or "Bell" sent word to their Washington diplomats to secure the Navy plans. This country has given the plans, and data of its Rescue Bell to the foreign powers solely for humanitarian purposes purpose, one high official pointed out. "The device is a humanitarian one, that will be of invaluable service to the whole world if properly handled", he said. American Navy officials do not regard the Rescue Chamber as an implement of war. Because of a long-standing agreement, all nations distribute inventions of "mercy", and the Rescue Bell is regarded as such. It has one "war use" although that possibility is quite remote. Possible War use With the Bell properly attached to a hatch, a nation at war could enter a "dead" submarine of an enemy, secure such things as ship's papers, and other data, and bring them to the surface. However the Rescue Chamber works best when attached to a submarine lying on an even keel, and a submarine made "dead" by depth bombs in the time of war (unreadable - would?) be unsuitable for access by a Rescue Chamber. In addition to Germany, Russia, France, and Japan, Denmark, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Yugoslavia, Argentina, Brazil, and Peru have been given the mechanical instructions for the construction of the rescue chambers. Poland, which asked for the plans a short time before Germany invaded that country, has also been handed a set of plans, but these are probably still in Washington at the Polish Embassy. Two nations that have many submarines - Italy, and Great Britain - have not asked for the rescue device, and plans. Great Britain has had several similar devices of its own and is now working on a new invention which she thinks will be of greater service to her because of the construction of British submarines. Italy also, it is understood at Washington has a "rescue device" which its engineers have completed after many years of work. While the McCann "Bell" represents the efforts of many men, it was designed by Commander McCann, and it was mainly through his efforts that "Bell" reached the high point of efficiency that it did. He was on-hand last May when the bell went to the bottom at 40 fathoms and rescued the men of the Squalus, and he was also inside it the night it dangled in the mid-ocean with a broken cable, and the nine men inside were faced with death if a single thing more went wrong (transcriber note: McCann wasn't in the Bell, although he was cited for his actions in saving the Bell, and its occupants when the cable failed). He stayed on the scene off Portsmouth for much of the summer leaving for Washington after the "bell" had no further use. He and the Navy are now perfecting the device so that it will render greater service. Works like a Submarine The "Bell" which costs $10,000 to build, weighs about 18,000 pounds and goes down to a submarine from a salvage ship on a cable. It is a baby submarine except its functions are supplied from the outside. Commander McCann is a graduate of Drury High School, Mrs. McCann is the former Katheryne Gallup, daughter of ex-Senator Harvey A. Gallup of this city. 505355A17679 New York Bureau ASSISTS IN DIRECTING SEARCH FOR MISSING SUB, PORTSMOUTH, N H. -- Commander Allan R McCann who also participated in the Squalus rescue, and salvage operations, is assisting Capt. J J Brown in directing today's search for the US Submarine O-9, which has been missing since she submerged in a routine dive this morning, off the Isle of Shoals. On the morning of 20 June 1941, three submarines—O-6, O-9, and O-10—left New London, bound for the submarine test-depth diving area east of the Isles of Shoals, which lie about six miles off the coast of New Hampshire and Maine; the area where the subs were to submerge was 15 miles out from Portsmouth. O-6 dove first. O-10 followed. At 0837, O-9 sank beneath the waves. Two hours later, she still had not returned to the surface. O-6 and O-10, accompanied by another submarine, USS TRITON (SS-201), and the submarine rescue ship USS FALCON (AM-28), began a search for the missing boat. All they recovered was a few pieces of debris with markings that identified them as coming from O-9. Over the course of the next two days, divers from the Falcon ASR-1, under the command of Commander McCann, descended to the bottom of the frigid Atlantic, nearly 450 feet below the ocean’s surface, in search of the wreck. Although they set records for endurance and depth, they found nothing. On the 22nd the operation was canceled, deemed to be too risky. The boat was declared lost, along with her 34 officers and crew, as of the 20th. It was presumed that O-9 had, for some reason, passed below her crush depth of 212 feet and imploded. December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii Pearl Harbor, Narrative of McCann in the battle: . Silent Victory, The US Submarine War Against Japan, Page 99 The Submarine Tender USS Widgeon dockside during the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. The McCann Submarine Rescue Chamber is on deck. This was Dock 1010 at the submarine base. Widgeon and Pelias were docked here with three of the four subs in the harbor at the time of the attack. Captain McCann was aboard USS Pelias which had just arrived as a new Tender less than two weeks previously and was undergoing initial equipping. "On the tender Pelias, moored in a backwater at the sub base, Al McCann commanding Submarine Squadron 6, was in his stateroom, in his pajamas performing Gene Tunney exercises when the alert came. He raced to the bridge in his pajamas. What he saw he later said, "turned my stomach upside down". It was "Unbelievable ... shabby ... absurd" Battleship Row - California, Oklahoma, Maryland, West Virginia, Tennessee, Arizona, and Nevada - were under severe air attack. The noise was deafening. There was smoke, and flame all over the harbor." Pelias was not yet fitted with her full complement of anti-aircraft weapons. McCann did not fire those he had, lest his gunners hit friendly ships, but watched in disbelief as the bulk of the Pacific Fleet crumpled under the weight of the attack. For a while, he considered getting underway and standing out of the harbor, but his path was blocked by flaming and exploding ships. When a wave of torpedo planes came over McCann was certain they were headed for Pelias, but they overflew the tender and attacked Hickam Field. (Pelias having only arrived November 25, was not on the Japanese target list, and only one crewman was injured: He lost his footing, and fell off the gangplank while craning for a better look at the holocaust.) That morning there were four submarines in Pearl Harbor. In addition to Wilkin's Narwhal, and Raine's old Dolphin, there was one older V boat, Cachalot, and the new Tambor-class Tautog which had just returned from a long patrol off Midway. Narwhal, Dolphin, and Tautog were moored at the sub-base finger piers (1010 docks). Cachalot was in the Navy yard undergoing an overhaul. When the first Japanese planes appeared, the crews on all four boats ran to battle stations, setting up .30, and .50 caliber machine guns. When a Japanese plane came over Tautog, the duty officer, William Bernard 'Barney' Sieglaff, coolly directed enlisted gunners manning a .50 caliber machine gun. The tracers climbed upward into the fuselage, and the plane burst into flame and crashed into the water 50 yards off the sub-base piers. Tautog was the first US Submarine to destroy anything Japanese. At the navy yard, gun crews on Cachalot hammered away at Japanese planes with machine guns but got no positive hits. During the battle, a Japanese plane headed for larger targets strafed the boat, hitting Seaman Second Class G. A. Myers in the right lung. Myers was rushed to the Sub base dispensary where, in time, he recovered. Myers was the first submarine force casualty of World War II and the only submarine casualty of Pearl Harbor. (Squadron 6 was in two divisions (Division 61 - Tambor, Triton, Thresher, Trout, Tautog, and Tuna, all Tambor-class) (Division 62 - Grenadier, Gar, Gudgeon, Grayling, Grampus, and Grayback also Tambor-class, only Gudgeon, and Tautog were in Hawaii, Gudgeon was at sea.) Most of the Tambor-class boats were still stateside.) After the attack on Pearl Harbor, The Philippines, and the Aleutian Islands in early December 1941, the Pacific Submarine force, and the 3 Aircraft Carriers, became the primary Pacific US Navy operational vessels. The destruction in Hawaii was a long time in recovery, unfortunately, the Submarine's primary weapon the Mk. XIV Torpedo was an unacknowledged failure. Following numerous Mark XIV torpedo failures early in World War II, RADM English worked with RADM McCann in leading successful torpedo testing, and improvements in torpedo construction. Four issues were involved in the failures, weight of the warhead was greater than "test" warheads used in design validation, making the torpedoes run in a nose-down trim; The depth sensor was in a location where increased speed and water flow caused the sensor to 'think' it was shallower than it was, sending a signal to dive deeper; direct impact at high speeds caused the warheads to crumple the firing pin path, causing the pin to malfunction by not reaching the detonator, or by missing it; the Magnetic proximity device didn't work at the equator, or in the southern hemisphere. McCann helped develop solutions, moving the sensor to a neutral flow area; installing an electrical mercury switch to fire the detonator cap, and disabling the magnetic proximity fuse. The Torpedo's designers also came up with solutions, but AFTER McCann's solutions were implemented in the field. January 1943 - additional duty in temporary command of Task Force 51, The Joint Expeditionary Task Force, (CTF 51, Miscellaneous Task Groups), and Senior Representative of Commander Submarines Southwest Pacific, to General MacArthur. The objective of TF-51 during this period was the taking of New Guinea. (Operations in the southwest Pacific) January 2, 1943 - Allies take Buna in New Guinea. January 22, 1943 - Allies defeat the Japanese at Sanananda in New Guinea. April 1943 - Commander, Submarine Squadron 7, Atlantic Fleet. Naval Historical Center records show Submarine Squadron SEVEN was first established during the Second World War, organized with two submarine divisions (COMSUBDIVs 71, and 72), whose mission was to conduct anti-submarine warfare (ASW) training. The command was homeported in Bermuda during the latter part of 1942 and consisted mostly of older R-, and S- boats. In April 1943, the Operational Training Command, Atlantic Fleet was established with Rear Admiral D. B. Berry in charge, Squadron SEVEN was placed under Allan R. McCann who established the squadron. Operational control of Submarine Squadron Seven was shifted from the Commandant Naval Operating Base, Bermuda, to Commander Operational Training Command. Late in 1943 (September) two Free French submarines were made available for the Training Command under the United States supervision. Five more were added in 1944. After the invasion of Sicily, and the landing at Anzio in January 1944, five Italian submarines came across the Atlantic in February 1944, and were assigned to ASW Training Command. These foreign submarines were assigned by COMSUBLANT to Submarine Squadron SEVEN. The French and Italian submarines were excellent for training purposes due to their heavy hull construction, and they made good substitutes for the newly commissioned U.S. Navy submarines rerouted to the Pacific for combat duty. With the curtailment of the escort program, the activity at Bermuda was no longer needed and was transferred to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Following the cessation of hostilities in the Pacific, Submarine Squadron SEVEN was disestablished in 1945. Capt. Allan R. McCann, US. Navy of Washington, D. C., a native of North Adams, has been nominated by President Roosevelt for promotion to the rank of rear admiral. A graduate of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Capt. McCann first won national fame as one of the developers of the McCann rescue chamber, which was first used successfully in May of 1939 when the device played a major part in the rescue of 33 survivors of the ill-fated Squalus of Portsmouth, NH. September 1943 - Fleet Maintenance Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Navy Department, Washington, DC. USS Iowa (BB-61) July 1944 - Command of the Battleship USS Iowa (BB-61), and from 16 August to 28 November 1944 was in the Western Pacific. (Rear Admiral) This period was very important, leading to the arrival of General Douglas MacArthur back in the Philippines on October 20, 1944. General McArthur returns to the Philippines. (Source: The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships published by the Naval Historical Center) On 19 June, in an engagement known as the Battle of the Philippine Sea, USS Iowa, as part of the battle line of Fast Carrier Task Force 58, helped repel four massive air raids launched by the Japanese Middle Fleet. This resulted in the almost complete destruction of Japanese carrier-based aircraft. USS Iowa then joined in the pursuit of the fleeing enemy fleet, shooting down one torpedo plane, and assisting in splashing another. Throughout July, USS Iowa remained off the Marianas supporting airstrikes on the Palaus, and landings on Guam. After a month's rest, Iowa sortied from Eniwetok as part of the 3d Fleet and helped support the landings on Peleliu, 17 September. She then protected the carriers during air strikes against the Central Philippines to neutralize enemy air power for the long-awaited invasion of the Philippines. On 10 October, Iowa arrived off Okinawa for a series of airstrikes on the Ryukyus, and Formosa. She then supported air strikes against Luzon, 18 October, and continued this vital duty during General MacArthur's landing on Leyte on 20 October. HOLD FOR RELEASE Afternoon NEWSPAPERS AUGUST 14, 1944 23 OFFICERS, and ENLISTED MEN DECORATED, and COMMENDED The Secretary of the Navy has authorized the following awards: LEGION OF MERIT Allan R. McCann Captain Allan Rockwell McCann, U. S. Navy, 47, a native of North Adams, Massachusetts, whose wife Mrs. Katheryne F. G. McCann, is now living at 3709 Yuma Street, Northwest, Washington, 31 D.C. was awarded the Legion of Merit "For exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States as Commander of a Submarine Squadron, Senior Representative of Commander Submarines Southwest Pacific, and as Temporary Commander of a Task Force, and Submarines Southwest Pacific Force from February 10 to March 7, 1943. Demonstrating exceptional ability, and untiring devotion to duty as Squadron Commander, Captain McCann inspired the officers, and men under his command attached to the successful completion of dangerous, and vital missions. As Senior Officer, he relieved the Task Force Commander of many details and assisted in the expeditious establishment and efficient operations of units. His brilliant leadership and proficient execution of many difficult tasks were reflected in the splendid material condition of all units of this task force, and the excellent morale of his men, resulting in a tremendous toll in enemy shipping.' August 1944 - After a month's rest, Iowa sortied from Eniwetok as part of the 3d Fleet, and helped support the landings on Peleliu, 17 September. She then protected the carriers during air strikes against the Central Philippines to neutralize enemy air power for the long-awaited invasion of the Philippines. In a last-ditch attempt to halt the United States campaign to recapture the Philippines, the Japanese Navy struck back with a three-pronged attack aimed at the destruction of American amphibious forces in Leyte Gulf. Iowa responded in support of Taffy 3 TF-38 during attacks against the Japanese Central Force as it steamed through the Sibuyan Sea toward San Bernardino Strait. The reported results of these attacks and the apparent retreat of the Japanese Central Force led Admiral Halsey to believe that this force had been ruined as an effective fighting group. Iowa, with Task Force 38 steamed after the Japanese Northern Force off Cape Engano, Luzon. 1 October 44 - USS Argonaut christened by Mrs. McCann 10 October 1944 - Iowa arrived off Okinawa for a series of airstrikes on the Ryukyus, and Formosa. She then supported air strikes against Luzon, 18 October, and continued this vital duty during General MacArthur's landing on Leyte on 20 October. 20-25 October 1944 - The Battle off Samar - USS Iowa commanded by AR McCann. (McArthur arrived back in the Philippines on October 20, 1944.) The US Third Fleet in the Leyte Gulf. 25 October 1944 - Japanese Central Force was attacking a group of American escort carriers Taffy 3, off Samar. This threat to the American beachheads forced Iowa to reverse course, and steam to support the vulnerable "baby carriers." However, the valiant fight put up by the escort carriers, and their screen had already caused the Japanese to retire, and Iowa was denied a surface action. Following the Battle for Leyte Gulf, Iowa remained in the waters off the Philippines screening carriers during strikes against Luzon, and Formosa. the US Navy Third Fleet NAME: McCANN, ALLAN R, CAPTAIN, USN CONGRESSIONAL RECORD DATE: 12/18/44 PAGE: 9796 NOMINATED: To be a rear admiral in the Navy for temporary service - to rank from the 25th day of March 1943. CONFIRMED: 12/17/44 December 1944 - June 1945 - Assistant Chief of Staff (Anti-Submarine), and Chief of Staff to the Commander, Tenth Fleet, Headquarters, Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet, Navy Department, Washington, DC. organized to exercise unity of control over the Navy's war against the U-boat operations in the Atlantic from Iceland attached to Cape Horn. The first Chief of Staff of the Tenth Fleet was Rear Admiral Francis S. Low, who was relieved in January 1945 by Rear Admiral A. R. McCann. To the Tenth Fleet were assigned the following tasks: (a) Destruction of enemy submarines. (b) Protection of Allied shipping in the Eastern, Gulf, and Caribbean Sea Frontiers. (c) Support of other anti-submarine forces of our own, and the other Allied nations operating in the Atlantic areas. (d) Exercise of control of convoys, and shipping was the United States' responsibility. (e) Correlation of United States antisubmarine training, and materiel development. Feb. 25, 1945 - new electric-powered sub sank 1st ship, and easily escaped underwater at 20 knots. April 1945 - Seewolf group of 6 type IXC boats with snorkels was sent to the U.S. east coast in the last German attempt to attack convoys; the U.S. responded with 4 escort carrier groups in Operation Teardrop directed by Adm. McCann that destroyed 5 of 6 subs. NAVY DEPARTMENT IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS, and RADIO MAY 3, 1945 BRONZE STAR MEDAL PRESENTED TO REAR ADMIRAL ALLAN ROCKWELL McCANN, U.S.N. "For heroic service as Commanding Officer of the USS IOWA, in action against enemy Japanese forces in the Western Pacific Area,' Rear Admiral Allan Rockwell McCann, U.S.N., 43, today received the Bronze Star Medal. Under Secretary of the Navy Ralph A. Bard presented the award during a ceremony in Room 2054, Navy Department, this afternoon. The text of the citation is as follows: "For heroic service as Commanding Officer of the USS IOWA, in action against enemy Japanese forces in the Western Pacific Area. Fighting his ship with determined aggressiveness during powerful raids executed in coordination with other units of the United States Fleet, Rear Admiral McCann consistently blasted the formidable defenses of strongly held enemy positions and, delivering his shattering broadsides with devastating accuracy, inflicted heavy losses upon the Japanese, and aided materially in keeping to minimize serious damage to his task force despite the enemy's determined opposition. A forceful leader, Rear Admiral McCann, by his superb tactical skill, daring initiative, and cool courage under fire, contributed essentially to the success of our forces during a prolonged period of fierce hostilities in the Pacific Theater, and his unwavering devotion to duty throughout was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.' Rear Admiral McCann, previously awarded the Legion of Merit, is now on duty on the Staff of the Commander in Chief, United States Navy, in the Navy Department. Rear Admiral and Mrs. McCann are living at 3709 Yuma Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C. Their usual residence is North Adams, Massachusetts. The following is an excerpt from the: THIRD, and FINAL REPORT TO THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY Covering the period 1 March 1945 to 1 October 1945 by Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King, Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, and Chief of Naval Operations (Issued 8 December 1945) ATLANTIC OPERATIONS The operations of the United States Navy in the Atlantic, and Mediterranean Theaters culminated in the victory of the Allied nations in Europe. The success of the joint antisubmarine campaign and the tremendous achievements in shipbuilding were essential preludes to the landings in Normandy, and southern France, and the great land offensive, which in three months carried the Allied Expeditionary Forces to the German frontier, and brought total victory on German soil six months later. This victory was possible because ships were available, and their protection by the Navy effective. ANTI SUBMARINE OPERATIONS In the anti submarine campaign, our Atlantic Fleet had responsibility for Atlantic areas under United States operational command, and the British Admiralty was responsible for North Atlantic, and European operations in which United States naval task forces participated. In the British control areas, Commander U.S. Naval Forces in Europe assured proper liaison between the Admiralty, and the Tenth Fleet organization in my Headquarters, which was responsible for the convoy, and routing of United States shipping, and the development of plans, weapons, and tactics to be employed in anti-submarine operations. In the final month of the European war, German submarines made a last determined effort, in great strength, to reach the eastern coast of the United States. That attempt was thwarted by a powerful task force of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, which, during an engagement lasting several days, destroyed five U-Boats. The United States Navy's final successful action against German submarines occurred on 6 May, only two days before V-E day, when a U-boat was sunk off Block Island by the destroyer escort ATHERTON with the frigate MOBERLY assisting. The development of new techniques, the intensive training of anti-submarine crews, and the persistence with which the U-Boats were hunted offensively all played vital parts in the surrender campaign. German submarines began to surface, and surrender shortly after V-E Day, and U.S. Atlantic Fleet escort vessels brought several of them to the United States east coast ports. A review of anti submarine, and convoy operations since 1939 illustrates clearly these major naval contributions to victory in Europe. The summarized statistics on the Battle of the Atlantic are as follows: German Submarines Sunk # Allied Submarines Sunk (x1000 tons) New Construction (x1000 tons) Net Gains(+) or Losses(-) Year U. S. BRITISH TOTAL 1939 (4 months) 9 810 101 231 332 -478 1940 22 4,407 439 780 1,219 -3,188 1941 35 4,398 1,169 815 1,984 -2,414 1942 85 8,245 5,339 1,843 7,182 -1,063 1943 237 3,611 12,384 2,201 14,585 +10,974 1944 241 1,422 11,639 1,710 13,349 +11,927 1945 (4 months) 153 458 3,551 283 3,834 +3,376 Totals 782 23,351 34,622 7,863 42,485 +19,134 From the foregoing statistical summary, the chief features of the Battle of the Atlantic are clear: (a) Until the closing months of 1942 the German submarines were continuing to reduce the available total of Allied tonnage; (b) Anti Submarine operations resulted in the sinking of an average of 12 German submarines per month after 1 January 1943, or a total of 480 in the two years 1943-44; (c) American shipyards alone produced an average of a million tons per month of new merchant ships after 1 January 1943, or a total of 24,000,000 tons in two years. In the 12 months from 1 June 1944, 135 convoys arrived in United Kingdom ports from overseas with a total of 7157 merchant ships totaling more than 50,000,000 gross tonnages. The escort of this shipping and the provision of trained naval armed guard crews aboard the merchant's vessels were among the primary tasks performed by the United States Navy in the prosecution of the war in Europe. The Navy's anti-submarine campaign with the British-United States integrated convoy system was in great part responsible for the vital shipping necessary for the Allied land offensive which broke into the Fortress of Europe in 1944 and overwhelmed the Germans ashore in 1945. TENTH FLEET On 15 June 1945, the Tenth Fleet was dissolved. This effective organization was established 20 May 1943 under my direct command, with Headquarters in the Navy Department, to exercise unity of control over the United States antisubmarine operations in that part of the Atlantic Ocean under United States strategic control. The first Chief of Staff of the Tenth Fleet was Rear Admiral Francis S. Low, who was relieved in January 1945 by Rear Admiral A. R. McCann. To the Tenth Fleet were assigned the following tasks: (a) Destruction of enemy submarines. (b) Protection of Allied shipping in the Eastern, Gulf, and Caribbean Sea Frontiers. (c) Support of other anti-submarine forces of our own, and the other Allied nations operating in the Atlantic areas. (d) Exercise of control of convoys, and shipping that was United States responsibilities. (e) Correlation of United States antisubmarine training, and materiel development. To accomplish these tasks the Tenth Fleet was organized into four principal divisions: Operations Anti Submarine Measures (materiel, training, analysis, and statistics, and operational research) Convoy, and Routing and a Scientific Council composed of distinguished civilian scientists. The Tenth was a fleet without a ship. However, this highly specialized command coordinated, and directed our naval forces in the Battle of the Atlantic, making available the latest intelligence to the Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, and attached to other fleets, and sea frontier commanders who directed the actual operations at sea, and supplying anti Submarine training, and operating procedures to our forces afloat. The Tenth Fleet correlated the anti-submarine developments of the various technical bureaus of the Navy Department, and the fleet training schools concerned with anti-submarine activities. In addition, it worked closely with the General Staff of the United States Army, and with the British Admiralty, and Canadian Naval Headquarters to avoid duplication, and confusion, and to ensure that maximum effort would be directed against the German undersea fleet. The effective work of the Tenth Fleet contributed outstandingly to the success of the United States naval operations in the Battle of the Atlantic. **** END EXCERPTED TEXT OF FLEET ADMIRAL KING's 3rd REPORT to SECNAV At the time of inception, Tenth Fleet chief-of-staff was Rear Admiral Francis S. Lowe; by April 1945, he had been replaced by Rear Admiral Allan R. McCann, inventor of the McCann diving bell used to rescue submariners trapped in sunken boats. [Morison, Samuel Eliot, The Atlantic Battle Won, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume X. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1956), pp 21-26, 345.] June 1945 - Staff of the Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet, NAVY DEPARTMENT JUNE 15, 1945 TENTH FLEET DISSOLVED The Tenth Fleet, organized in 1943 to direct the U.S. Navy's war against the U-boat in the Atlantic from Iceland attached to Cape Horn, has been dissolved the Navy Department announced today. Liquidation of an entire fleet organization in a time of war is unique. It followed the winning by the Tenth Fleet, with cooperation with the British, and Canadians, of a great strategic victory in the Atlantic, breaking the back of Germany's desperate effort to stave off complete defeat through the U-boat campaign. Throughout its career, the Tenth Fleet was under the immediate direction of Fleet Admiral Ernest E. King, U.S.N., Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet, and Chief of Naval Operations, who guided the anti-submarine operations in addition to his other duties. During the critical months of the Atlantic war in 1943, Rear Admiral Francis S. Low, U.S.N., Assistant Chief of Staff (Anti-Submarine), U.S. Fleet, served as Chief of Staff, Tenth Fleet. He was succeeded, in January 1945 by Rear Admiral A. R. McCann, U.S.N. It was in February 1943 that Adolf Hitler elevated his chief of U-boat warfare, Karl Doenitz, to the rank of Grand Admiral, and Commander in Chief of the German Navy. It was soon apparent that Doenitz planned to use his undersea weapon with determination. In Washington, May 20, 1943, the Tenth Fleet was organized to exercise unity of control over the U.S. Navy's war against the U-boat in the Atlantic. Rear Admiral Low, with a background in the submarine, and anti-submarine duty in World War I, and subsequent extensive submarine duty as well as service in surface ships, was assigned to supervise the fight. The Tenth was a fleet without a ship. However, this highly specialized command could, and frequently did, call upon the surface, and air forces of the Atlantic Fleet, and Sea Frontier Forces to carry out offensive strikes against enemy U-boats. The very existence of the Tenth Fleet was not revealed until it had been in full operation for more than four months. The Tenth Fleet was directed to destroy enemy submarines, protect Allied shipping in the U.S. Sea Frontiers, support Allied anti-submarine forces operating in the Atlantic areas, control convoys, and shipping that were U.S. responsibilities, and attached to correlate U.S. anti-submarine research and personnel instruction. To accomplish its assignment the Tenth Fleet was formed into four principal divisions: Operations; Anti-Submarine Measures (materiel, training, analysis, and statistics, and operational research); Convoy, and Routing; and a Scientific council of civilian scientists. Through this specialized organization, Tenth Fleet headquarters made instantly available the latest intelligence information, anti-submarine development, and training, and operating procedures to Admiral Royal F. Ingersoll, U.S.N., Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet, and other Fleet, and sea frontier Commanders who directed the actual operations at sea. 18 July 1945 - 8 August 1945 - President Truman departs for Potsdam. Admiral McCann was assigned as Commander, Task Force 68, USS Philadelphia (CL-41) during the Presidential trip to Berlin. This was the Potsdam Meeting with President Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, to decide how to divide the lands held by Germany. 6 August 1945 - Admiral McCann personally informed President Truman of the successful bombing of Hiroshima in Japan. 7 August 1945 - Commended by President Harry S. Truman 20 August - 10 October 1945 - CINCLANT FILE UNITED STATES ATLANTIC FLEET P15/(4269) care F.P.O. New York, N. Y.., 26 Sep 1945 From: Commander in Chief, United States Atlantic Fleet. To: Commander in Chief, United States Fleet. Subject: Letter of Commendation - the forwarding of. Enclosure: (A) ONE (1) Letter of Commendation (B) ONE (1) Commendation Ribbon. 1. The Commander in Chief, United States Atlantic Fleet, takes great pleasure in commending Rear Admiral Allan R. McCann, U.S. Navy, for meritorious performance of duty as Commander Task Force SIXTY EIGHT during the Presidential trip to, and from the Berlin Conference, 4 July to 8 August 1945. 2. It is requested that the enclosed Letter of Commendation and Commendation ribbon be presented to Rear Admiral McCann with the congratulations of the Commander in Chief, United States Atlantic Fleet. Oscar Smith, Chief of Staff Copy to: SecNav BuPers USS Fargo 18 December 1945 - Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Flagship is the light cruiser Fargo (CL-106), Submarine Base, Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii. Admiral McCann is directed by the president of the United States, Harry Truman, to take control of, and destroy what remains of the Japanese Navy. I-400 4 June 1946 - The Japanese I-400 was a Submersible Aircraft Carrier, and the largest Submarine ever built. I-400 is a target ship in the Pacific off Pearl Harbor for tests of the Mark 10-3 exploder. At 1210 hrs. (12:10 PM), she sinks by the stern at 21-13N, 158-07W after being hit by three Mark 18-2 electric torpedoes fired by Cdr D. B. Bell's new USS TRUMPETFISH (SS-425). ComSubPac, Rear Admiral Allan R. McCann (former CO of IOWA (BB-61) is embarked on the TRUMPETFISH, and witnesses the I-400's sinking. USS Nereus 15 Jul 1947 - Submarine Tender USS Nereus was assigned to Task Group 17.3. On 28 June 1947 she got underway for Operation 'Blue Nose', an Arctic familiarization cruise, with the submarine tender USS Nereus (AS-17), and submarines USS Boarfish (SS-327), and USS Cabezon (SS-334). On 15 July she left for the Aleutian Islands where Rear Admiral Alan R. McCann, Commander Submarine Force Pacific came aboard at Adak Island. The group was underway again on 25 July, this time for the Pribilof Islands. During this transit Army Air Force planes based at Adak took part in the anti-submarine training. On 30 July the group passed through the Bering Strait and crossed the Arctic Circle. Following along the International Date Line, the ships of Operation "Blue Nose'' sighted pack ice on the morning of 1 August 1947. After reaching 72 degrees 15' north latitude, the ships continued independently along the ice pack to determine its shape. This cruise was entirely novel for a submarine tender. Admiral McCann commanded the operation, and accompanied the submarine USS Boarfish on the first under-ice voyage of a US Submarine, transiting about 17 miles under the Ice-pack. He also with several crewmembers, manned a dory and explored the pack ice. 3 September 1948 - Member of the General Board of the Navy Department, the purpose of the general board of the Navy was to report directly to the Secretary of the Navy on specialized information to be relayed to the US government. PRESS RELEASE NATIONAL MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT OFFICE OF PUBLIC INFORMATION Washington 25, D. C. NOTE TO THE PRESS: NO. A-25-49 IMMEDIATE RELEASE JUNE 13, 1949 RE 6700 Ext. 73111-73112 ROUTINE DUTY CHANGES ANNOUNCED FOR THREE NAVAL FLAG OFFICERS The Bureau of Naval Personnel has announced routine duty changes for the following three Navy Flag officers: Rear Admiral Allan R. McCann, U.S.N., to be Naval Inspector General when detached this month from present duty as a member of the General Board of the Navy Department. His official address is 36 Cherry Street, North Adams, Massachusetts. [Section deleted] *(Note: Rear Admiral McCann will relieve Rear Admiral Lee H. Thebaud as Naval Inspector General [section deleted] These duty changes were previously announced.) In 1948, as the result of the National Security Act ("Unification Act"), the Navy IG was established in OPNAV under both SECNAV, and CNO as an agent for both. 14 June 1949 - Naval Inspector General, Navy Department, additionally tasked by the President of the United States to investigate the "Revolt of the Admirals" DEFENSE & SECURITY The Revolt Of The Admirals: The Perspective Of The General Board By John Kuehn Last updated Jan 6, 2020 This article has been adapted from Chapter 9 of the author’s larger work on the General Board, America’s First General Staff (Naval Institute Press, 2017). Published with the author’s permission. The passage of the 1947 National Security Act (NSA 1947) can be rightly identified as the causative agent of what became known to history as “The Revolt of the Admirals.” At the same time, the organization that might have served as the nerve center for such a result, the General Board of the Navy (and where it had been the center for several low-level revolts in the past), played a decidedly muted role in all that went on. Instead, the newer and more powerful office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OpNav) served as the locus for what became a major civil-military relations crisis in 1949.[1] The General Board, once mighty until World War II, and now rejuvenated by the appointment of the retired Admiral John Towers might easily have then faded again into insignificance once Towers retired for good and Forrestal “fleeted up” from Secretary of the Navy (SecNav) to the new post of Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) per the National Security Act of 1947. That it did not is due to several factors: the new CNO, the new SecNav, and the continuing service of Towers’ handpicked lieutenants (especially Admiral “Soc” McMorris and Captain Arleigh Burke). Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz retired nearly at the same time as Towers. His replacement, Admiral Louis Denfield, had been serving as Chief of the Bureau of Naval Personnel (BuPers). Denfield might have reflected his position on the value of the General Board in a report in late 1945 for Forrestal delineating flag officer billets for the post-war Navy. Denfield recommended retention of the General Board with a complement of seven admirals. In another sign of his probable esteem and empathy for the Board, Denfield recommended upgrading the chairman’s rank from vice admiral to full admiral. This was precisely what Forrestal did when he brought Towers in to serve as chairman. The tone of the communications between the Board and the CNO became more cordial than it had been under Nimitz. The Board was to do some of its most interesting work under Denfield until the fight over naval aviation in 1949 witnessed the departure of SecNav John Sullivan (formerly Assistant SecNav) and removal of Denfield.[2] At the same time, the General Board decreased in size slightly, shrinking down to seven members (including only three admirals) with Towers’ departure. A scan of the subjects assigned for the Board to study in 1948 reveals its new scope and charter. Beginning in January, Sullivan referred to it several very important policy topics, including: “Functions of the Navy in support of a National War Effort,” “Composition and cost of Reserve Fleets,” and revision of the “Naval Policy.”[3] Just as in 1922, the SecNav had turned to the General Board for an overall policy document under the new defense regime instituted by the NSA 1947. The idea of potential war, too, was very much on the minds of naval leaders at the highest levels, although it was at odds with the continuing demobilization and costs for maintaining some of the ships of the huge World War II legacy fleet in various states of readiness. By the summer SecNav ordered another naval policy review, but more importantly, Sullivan turned to the General Board for a long-range recommendation for the design of the navy for the next decade (1951-1960). Arleigh Burke undertook the task of overseeing this study. The process had actually started the previous November under Towers with a top-secret memorandum to the CNO that in turn had been stimulated by Joint Strategic Plans Committee (JSPC) seeking the Board’s “…views…as to the Naval Operating Forces which will be required in Fiscal Year 1955, particularly as such information pertains to naval aviation.”[4] Thus the Board became involved in two of the most important naval issues of the day—the Navy of the future and the role of naval aviation in that future. The initial report by Burke in November 1947 emphasized that “The only major war likely to occur between now and fiscal 1955 is a war instigated by the USSR against the United States.” Burke went on to emphasize his (and presumably the other Board members’) view of what navy that threat should be designed for: “The USSR will not intentionally risk such a war until she is fully prepared to fight with, in addition to her land forces, an air force, a submarine force, and possibly a guided missile force capable of delivering an effective surprise attack on industrial and military centers within the continental United States, our principal advance bases, and our lines of communications as the initial, hostile act.” The report also emphasized that the Board should use “history as a guide,” especially recent history—thus the notion that a Pearl Harbor type attack using new modern missiles, possibly on submarines or other ships, must be considered in construction and building decisions. It made sense that naval aviation figured prominently as one means to keep this threat as far as possible from vital targets overseas as well as in the continental heartland. Just as important, however, were US submarines, both in the attack and as radar pickets. This view of future warfare helps understand better the selection of Denfield, a submariner, as CNO and the alignment of Burke and the Board in this matter.[5] At the same time, the Board was receiving updates from JCS staff papers (presumably those of the Joint Strategic Plans Committee) “each Friday.”[6] By June 1948 the analysis had expanded and included political and economic factors as well as military—each area getting its own enclosure. The study’s scope reminds one of George Kennan’s work. Possibly Burke or other members had read Kennan’s famous 1947 article on “The Sources of Soviet Conduct” in Foreign Affairs.[7] The study emphasized the ongoing concern over defense unification as a means to highlight the need to resolve these disputes to better formulate strategy: “The controversy which accompanied the attempts to merge the armed forces has not died out. The paramount interests of national security demand an atmosphere of harmony and unanimity of purpose in the military establishment and allow no room for unhealthy service jealousies and for bickering and jockeying for favored position.” The authors found that Europe and the “Middle East” were the two most “critical points of contact in a war with Russia.”[8] Enclosure D of the study discussed the Navy’s “contribution” inside a “harmonious” military establishment. The study made several predictions, including an estimate that the USSR would have atomic bombs by no later than 1952 ready for use in war and that the US would not initiate a “preventative war.”[9] In a later section it discussed the most urgent threats to aircraft carrier-centered forces as aircraft and submarines. It also emphasized the need for a large flush deck carrier to allow for the operation of larger aircraft to carry atomic bombs as well as to intercept attacking aircraft at better stand-off ranges (presumably due to atomic bomb-equipped aircraft from the USSR). Other “lessons learned” from World War II appeared in the form of an emphasis on anti-submarine warfare to counter a Soviet unrestricted submarine war similar to that of the Germans as well as the seizure of advanced bases on the periphery of the USSR to project power against the Soviet industrial base.[10] The completed top-secret report was then forwarded to Secretary Sullivan with the recommendation to provide copies to the secretaries of Defense (Forrestal), the Army, and the Air Force. At the same time, it included a withering critique of the readiness of all US military forces to engage in a war with the USSR, focusing in particular on the poor readiness as a result of budget economies that had left the US Navy bereft of ASW craft, submarines, aircraft, and with only eleven attack aircraft carriers. It also emphasized the delineation of “roles and missions” at Key West the year before had done little to solve the problem of inter-service rivalries and dis-unity of command.[11] Forrestal undoubtedly agreed with almost everything in the report, but one can see how these positions, especially the Board’s assessment of abysmal military readiness (among other things), might rub members of the Truman administration the wrong way. Forrestal’s demise—and his protection as SECDEF of the General Board—was not long in coming. During the 1948 presidential campaign, it leaked out that he was willing to serve in a subsequent democratic administration. His principled opposition to further cuts and subordination of the Navy to a centralized, Army-Air Force controlled defense establishment further alienated him with those services and the President. In March 1949, after his unexpected re-election, Truman replaced Forrestal with Louis Johnson as SECDEF.[12] Johnson believed in economizing via reliance on air power to justify cuts. With Forrestal out of the way and an election mandate from the American people for Truman, Johnson adopted the attitude of the Army and Air Force vis-à-vis naval aviation and the Marine Corps. During the civil-military conflict known to history as “The Revolt of the Admirals” Johnson informed Admiral Richard Connolly: “Admiral, the Navy is on its way out. Now, take amphibious operations. There’s no reason for having a Navy and a Marine Corps. General Bradley…tells me that amphibious operations are a thing of the past. We’ll never have any more amphibious operations. That does away with the Marine Corps. And the Air Force can do anything the Navy can do nowadays, so that does away with the Navy.”[13] However, the General Board was not the lightning rod at the center of this major policy dispute in peacetime in the Navy—even though it supported Denfield and a strong role for naval aviation in the current defense structure. Shortly after helping write the “Ten Year” study, Burke left the Board for command of the cruiser Huntington. McMorris left as chairman the month prior. The Board was now under the leadership of the two-star admiral, although his heir apparent RADM Allan McCann could be categorized as an “up and comer.”[14] Because of the perceived shortcomings in the original “Ten Year” study, another was commissioned for the Board shortly after Burke’s departure in an effort to come up with a compromise. The resulting study had no more effect outside the Navy than its predecessor and might be regarded as the last national policy study the Board performed.[15] Burke’s work for the General Board attracted high-level attention and in late 1948 Denfield decided to use his policy expertise inside CNO, moving him from command and making him head of a new organization, OP-23, devoted exclusively to unification policy issues.[16] Burke’s OP-23 became the lightning rod instead of the General Board during the Revolt of the Admirals in the summer and fall of 1949. This episode in naval history has been dealt with at length elsewhere, but its impact on the existence of the General Board, which was not heavily involved, was significant. For SECDEF Johnson, the Navy’s resistance to a strategy that relied almost entirely on airpower for power projection in a possible nuclear war with the USSR had created a deep rift. Additionally, conflict overuse of the B-36 bomber versus a “supercarrier,” or both, also underlay the conflict.[17] The series of events characterized as “revolt” started not long after Johnson took over from Forrestal. Johnson initiated a series of actions that caused an eventual house-cleaning of the top leadership of the Navy—both civilian and senior officers—although it is unlikely that this is exactly what Johnson intended. The first to go was Secretary John Sullivan, who resigned shortly after Johnson canceled the contract to finish building the supercarrier United States –capable of launching nuclear-armed Navy bombers—in April 1949.[18] Sullivan’s replacement, Francis P. Matthews, was a political appointee with no experience with the Navy. He shared Johnson’s policy views on defense and the Navy’s subordinate role to the Air Force in strategy.[19] Matthews took charge during a period when Congressional opinion of the Navy had been damaged by the perception of official Navy misbehavior, if not misconduct, in a series of hearings on the B-36 before Congress. Burke and Vice CNO Arthur Radford worried about this perception and organized a series of hearings that fall (1949) to try to redeem the situation. At the same time, Burke worked under increasingly difficult conditions when McCann was pulled from the General Board in June and assigned as Navy Inspector General, his charter being to investigate Burke, among others.[20] The crisis came to a head when Radford and others began testifying to Congress early in October. Their reasoned testimony, supported by Burke’s office despite the seizure of its files, impressed Congressional observers and did much to retrieve the Navy’s reputation with the branch of government that could hurt it most. The climax came on 13 October—ironically the day celebrated as the US Navy’s birthday—with Denfield’s testimony. The CNO made an impassioned appeal for a robust defense policy not based solely on the “self-sufficiency of air power….”[21] Johnson and Matthews interpreted this as disloyalty and removed Denfield as CNO not long after, although Denfield remained on active service. Forrest Sherman, who had stayed in the background on the unification debates, became the CNO. It has been argued by some historians that Radford’s, Burke’s, and finally Denfield’s actions saved naval aviation (and possibly the Marine Corps as well). However, at the time this was far from certain. By June 1950 the Navy’s component of aircraft carriers was on the blocks to go as low as six on active duty with only one on station in the Western Pacific when the forces of North Korea invaded South Korea. This war—which confirmed predictions made in the Board’s 1948 study—had as big a role in saving naval aviation and the Marine Corps, and a large conventional Navy for sea control, as did the actions of Navy officers during the “revolt.”[22] The General Board might be regarded as collateral damage due to the “revolt.” However, it is not completely clear if the revolt was anything more than a contributing factor rather than the proximate cause of the Board’s disestablishment at the beginning of 1951, more than a year later. Little in the minutes and hearings of its activities references the momentous events in Congress, Burke’s OP-23 and with the CNO. During August 1949 the Board did look at two potentially controversial topics—one on the Army’s “General Staff System Applicability to the Navy.” Army Colonel Kilbourne Johnston of the Office of the Army Comptroller and “leading expert” on the Army system testified to the Board on 9 August. In his opening comments he said of the Board: “In my organization studies extending over a period of seventeen years, the Navy General Board has always appeared to me to be the epitome of the pure general staff theory. I think you will see as I develop my subject that in my own mind at least there is a grave doubt whether or not the Navy does not have a General Staff much closer to that conceived of by the Germans in the early part of the nineteenth century [than the Army]…” [23] Unfortunately, Secretary Matthews was not present to hear this rather astonishing judgment by an Army officer on the value of the General Board. The Board recommended that a specialized and centralized general staff corps not be adopted and that the current OpNav organization be retained without major changes “…until the full impact of the implementation of the National Security Act Amendments of 1949…on the Department of the Navy is known….” It also emphasized that this system resulted in “a high degree of civilian participation” but neglected its own significant role in assisting that participation.[24] Better reflecting Matthews’ concerns was another hearing two days later on “Organization of the Navy Department” with testimony by two “management engineers”—although it was clear that this hearing was closely related to whatever findings might emerge from the general staff discussions. Most of this discussion centered on how general staff functions and operations of the fleet had been concentrated under Admiral Ernest King as an expedient measure in wartime.[25] However, as the crisis of the revolt came to a head in September the General Board record was silent. It turned in its report on the General Staff on 19 August and the next set of minutes does not appear until 19 September 1949, after Denfield’s testimony was complete. The record simply picks up at the point with “business as usual,” announcing that VADM Harry W. Hill had reported as chairman. Hill had extensive combat experience in command of amphibious operations in World War II from Tarawa to Okinawa and had recently formed the National War College in Washington as its first commandant. His first order of business was to have the Board consider questions submitted to it by the Secretary of the Navy, although the record is silent about what these questions were. Perhaps they involved the recent unpleasantness with CNO.[26] These questions might be the reason that at the same time the Board began to plan for various field trips to naval bases and facilities from Key West to the West Coast in October. The record never specifies what its answers were, or even if they were forwarded to the Secretary—but if they were about recent events they did not cause Matthews to dissolve the Board. The hearings reflect no perturbations in routine either; on 4 October a secret hearing was held about integrating guided missiles onto surface ships and then much of the remainder of the month was spent on the aforementioned field trip.[27] In mid-November the Board picked up its routine again, looking at the “Relationship of the importance of the various budgetary programs to maintain the most effective Navy.” It would work this project until March of the following year. At this time the Board consisted of VADM Hill, two rear admirals, two captains (one as secretary), and one Marine colonel.[28] The demise of the General Board came not long after, quietly and without fanfare, much in the same way, the General Board had been created in 1900. At first, things seemed back to “ops normal,” but before long the Board’s old enemies inside the OpNav organization again made an issue of fleet design oversight, claiming that the Ships’Characteristics Board (SCB) inside OpNav obviated the Board’s historic role in prioritizing and reviewing ship designs. RADM G.H. Fort recommended that the current way of doing business, as ironed out by Towers nearly two years before, be retained.[29] This may have proved the proximate cause for both CNO and SecNav to reexamine the necessity for the Board. Its policy work could be done by RADM Burke’s Strategic Plans Division inside OpNav (OP-30), the SCB could handle its ships’ characteristics function, and the reconciliation of materiel ends, ways and means was now the province of a new Material Review Board created in December 1950.[30] The “Revolt” had removed any powerful partisans like Denfield and Sullivan who may have protected the General Board, to say nothing of Forrestal (who may have committed suicide). It simply had too many enemies in OpNav, which now controlled the Navy absolutely. * * * On 16 January 1951 CNO Admiral Forrest Sherman informed Fort of the “dissolution” of the Board by “appropriate changes to U.S. Navy Regulations, 1948.” No reason was provided. SecNav Matthews apparently did not even tell the Board directly of his decision, although perhaps he had delegated the CNO to make this decision in the previous August. Too, the Korean War might have saved naval aviation and the Marines, but wartime had never served to highlight the utility of the Board while at the same time highlight the importance of OpNav.[31] The Board passed quietly into the mists of history, like a ship cutting through an empty patch of ocean. [1] For a complete history of the General Board, and especially its civil-military relations with various administrations, see the author’s America’s First General Staff: A Short History of the Rise and Fall of the General Board of the Navy, 1900-1950 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2017). This article comes from research for that work, especially chapter 9. [2] National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Record Group (RG 80), CNO Correspondence, BuPers (Denfeld) to CNO (Nimitz), 27 March 1946, “Flag Billets Proposal for in the Post War Navy.” [3] NARA, RG-80, Proceedings and Hearings of the General Board (PHGB) serial list 1948, these encompassed, respectively, serials 315, 316, and 317. [4] General Board (GB) serial list 1948, serial (321); Arleigh Burke papers, Naval Historical and Heritage Center (NHHC) 21 November 1947, “Naval Operating Forces – Fiscal 1955,” 1. RELATED ARTICLES Arctic Great Power Competition: The United States, Russia… Gabriella Gricius The Sun Never Sets on Postwar America Christopher Mott Déjà Vu: Hacked Again Matthew J. Fecteau [5] Burke papers, 21 November 1947, “Naval Operating Forces – Fiscal 1955,” 1-2, 4-5. [6] From 20 Sept 47 General Board Procedures, Burke Papers, Division III, page 5. [7] George F. Kennan, “The Sources of Soviet Conduct” by X. Foreign Affairs (July 1947): 566–82. [8] GB 425, 25 June 1948, “National Security and Navy Contributions Thereto for the Next Ten Years: A Study by the General Board,” from the Burke Papers, Enclosure C (Military), 1-3. This study was also known as serial 315. [9] Ibid., 1-3, and Enclosure D, “Concepts of War and Navy Contributions,” from the Burke Papers, 1-2. [10] Ibid., Enclosure D, “Concepts of War and Navy Contributions,” from the Burke Papers, 7, 56. [11] Ibid., Enclosure C, “Conclusions,” 1-9. [12] Barlow, Revolt of the Admirals, 174-175. [13] Cited in Baer, One Hundred Years, 313. [14] GB ML 1948; Barlow, 165; Carl LaVO, Pushing the Limits: The Remarkable Life and Times of Vice Admiral Allan Rockwell McCann(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2013), 200-202. McCann became Inspector General of the Navy during the “Revolt of the Admirals” in 1949. [15] GB 325, “Navy Contributions to National Security, revision of 315 and continuous study,” 6 October 1948. [16] Barlow, Revolt of the Admirals, 164-169. [17] Barlow, The Revolt of the Admirals, chapter 9. [18] Barlow, 186-191. [19] Barlow, 206. [20] GB ML 1949; McCann was reassigned by Matthews on 20 June; see also LaVO, Pushing the Limits, 206-211. [21] Barlow, 247-254. [22] Barlow, 269-273; Baer, 318-320. [23] PHGB 9 August 1949, “Organization of U.S. Army General Staff.,” 1. [24] GB 142EN2 (7-49), 19 August 1949, “Applicability of the General Staff System to the Navy, Study of,” 1-2. [25] PHGB 11 August 1949, “Organization of the Navy Department.” [26] GB minutes 19 August 1949; for Hill see [external link] (accessed 8/30/2016). [27] PHGB 4 October 1949, “Guided Missles;” GB minutes September and October 1949. [28] GB minutes November 1949 through March 1950. [29] GB 155EN2, G.H. Fort to VCNO 11 October 1950, “Establishment of Shipbuilding and Conversion Programs and Ship Characteristics therefor,” 1-3. [30] Baer, 301; SecNav Correspondence, SecNav to CNO and Chief of Material, 28 December 1950, “Material Review Board.” [31] See Kuehn, America’s First General Staff, especially chapters 5 and 9. John Kuehn John T. Kuehn, PhD, is a retired naval aviator. He teaches military history at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and is also the author of Agents of Innovation: The General Board and the Design of the Fleet That Defeated the Japanese Navy. © 2021 Global Security Review — All Rights Reserved. Inventor of Rescue Bell Relieved of Duty, Goes to Hospital Rear Adm. Allan R. McCann, North Adams naval officer who invented the submarine rescue bell and who has served since last June in one of the navy's highest staff posts, may be preparing to retire. He has been relieved of duty as inspector general of the navy and is at Bethesda Naval hospital. Bethesda, Md.. for observation and treatment, it was learned here today. This sequence of events was interpreted by persons familiar with navy procedure to mean that he had petitioned for retirement, possibly on the grounds of physical disability. Relatives here said today they knew Adm. McCann recently had been bothered by the recurrence of an ailment that developed during his wartime service in the Pacific area but they understood his condition was not serious. They had no direct information to indicate that he might retire. Among those who know how the navy operates. However, it was pointed out that assignment to such a post as that which Adm. McCann has held for the past nine months usually is made for a period of three years and the officer occupying such a post is not relieved in ordinary cases of illness unless it is known that retirement is impending. Naval officers may be retired at any age for disability. Without disability they may retire after 30 years service and those in flag rank are required to retire at age 62. Adm. McCann is only 54 years old but has had nearly 33 years naval service since his graduation from the U. S. Naval academy in 1917. Thus he would be entitled to retirement at his own request with or without a physical disability. Disability retirement is more advantageous since service officers' disability pensions are not taxable but those given for voluntary retirement are subject to federal income tax. Adm. McCann, who was born here on Sept. 20, 1896. and graduated from Drury high school before he entered the Naval academy in 1913. He served on the battleship Kansas during the first World war and as commander of a submarine squadron raiding Japanese shipping in the Pacific during the first part of World war 2. Later he commanded a battleship for a year and then was promoted to rear admiral and assigned to the staff of the commander-in-chief, U.S. fleet, in 1944. Before leaving that assignment in 1948.to become a member of the navy general board, top policy-making agency of the service. He personally led a submarine squadron in an experimental cruise under the polar ice cap. He was named navy inspector general last June,, and very soon after taking that post was thrown into the center of the controversy which led to the ousting of Adm. Louis S. Denifeld as chief of naval operations, and a general shake-up in the Navy's top command. As inspector general. Adm. McCann was directed to investigate the part played in the so-called "Admiral's rebellion" against defense department policies and directives, by one of the navy top staff sections accused of furnishing the ammunition for the navy spokesmen in the row. While his duty took him into the center of the controversy as an investigator, there have been no indications that he personally was involved in it, either on the side of those who objected to the role and the policies assigned to the navy by the civilian hearts of the defense establishment or on the side of those imposing the new policies. In 1931 Adm. McCann. while working in the navy bureau of construction and repair had the leading part in developing the submarine rescue device, known as the McCann bell which saved part of the crew of the sunken Squalus. 1 May 1950 - Retired as Vice Admiral. May 1950 - February 1978 - No data found. In March 1951 vice-admiral McCann (retired), was a guest of President Truman as his Key West vacation White House, along with several other retired Navy personnel from world war II. His friendship with President Truman lasted a long time. 22 February 1978 - Died in San Diego, California (Social Security Death Index, and California Death Index) Decorations summary In addition to the Legion of Merit with Gold Star in place of the second Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, and the Commendation Ribbon, Vice Admiral McCann has the Victory Medal, Atlantic Fleet Clasp (USS Kansas), the American Defense Service Medal, with Fleet Clasp; the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and WWII Victory Medal. He subsequently progressed in grade until his promotion to Rear Admiral, 25 March 1943. He transferred to the Retired List of the Navy on 1 May 1950 and advanced in rank to Vice Admiral. End of Military Biography Other Records Name: MCCANN, ALLAN ROCKWELL Social Security #: 261721800 Sex: MALE Birth Date: 20 Sep 1896 Birthplace: MASSACHUSETTS Death Date: 22 Feb 1978 Death Place: SAN DIEGO No Parents Names Provided (Ca, Death Index) Admiral McCann retired to Winter Park, Florida, just north of Orlando. he is listed there in the 1950-3 "Who's Who in America", and in a 1951 North Adams Tribune article, and again in 1960. ORLANDO SUN HERALD. MARCH 9, 1978 MCCANN Vice Admiral Allan R. McCann, 81, U.S. Navy, Ret, died Wednesday, Feb. 22 at Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego, Ca. Admiral and Mrs. McCann resided in Winter Park for many years after his retirement. McCann had a long, and distinguished career following his graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1917. He was closely associated with the submarine force from the time he commanded the K-6 at age 23, until being assigned as Commander Submarine Force Pacific Fleet in 1946. Admiral McCann was best was, best known for his work involving submarine safety, and rescue. As a young officer, he devised a system for locating and rescuing personnel from a sunken submarine. The rescue unit called 'McCann Rescue Chamber' was installed in all U.S. Submarines. [sic - The Chamber was operated from a salvage vessel] McCann achieved national prominence in 1939 when the submarine Squalus sank off Portsmouth, N. H. trapping the entire crew, more than 240 feet below the surface. McCann, who directed operations, utilized the Rescue Chamber to remove 33 survivors. During World War II, he had diverse assignments. He commanded a Squadron of submarines operating in the Pacific, directed operations against German U-boats in the Atlantic, and then returned to the Pacific in command of the battleship, Iowa. Following the war, he transported President Harry S. Truman to Potsdam for the historic peace conference. Surviving are his wife, Katheryn, Laguna Hills, Ca.; daughters, Mrs. Miles Finley, Solana Beach, Ca., Mrs. David Maher, Camarillo, Cal., and Mrs. A.C. Hays, San Antonio, Tex.; nine grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. Non-Military records There is a city directory that contains the names of Allan's father, and a brother. North Adams, MA City Directory 1919 McCann Allan, USN bds 28 Porter McCann James A. President, and Treasurer P J Boland Co. bds 28 Porter McCann J Roy , student bds 28 Porter New London, Connecticut City Directory 1925 McCann Allan R. (Catherine) 494 Ocean Ave. 1930 U.S. Census Bethesda, Montgomery, Maryland Hunt Ave 4700-107-109 McCann, Allan R. head R($100) MW 33 m 22 MA NY MA LT. Commander U.S.Navy Katheryn E. wife fw 31 m 20 MA MA IL Barbara F dau fw 10 FL MA MA Lois K. dau fw 7 CN? Alyn C. dau fw 4 8/12 Connecticut Extracted from The Berkshire County Eagle, Pittsfield Mass Wed Dec. 26, 1945 North Adams Man Put In Charge Of Pacific Subfleet (from Thursday's Eagle) Pearl Harbor - Rear Adm. Allan R. McCann of North Adams, Mass, today relieved VAdm Charles A. Lockwood Jr. of Lamar, MO., as commander of the submarine force of the Pacific Fleet. Rear Adm. McCann, one of the designers of the rescue chamber used in cases of sunken subs, was born in North Adams in Sept. 1896 and graduated from Drury High School. He attended the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, graduating in 1915. His wife is the former Katherine E. Gallup, daughter of former Mayor, Harvey A. Gallup. They have three children and live in Washington D.C. Extracted from The Berkshire Evening Eagle Monday, August 5, 1946 Former Mayor Gallup, North Adams Dies North Adams - Former State Senator Harvey A. Gallup, 76, for 35 years head of the insurance company that bears his name, and former Mayor of the city, died at his home at 8 last night. He had been in failing health since 1942. Mr. Gallup was born in Clarksburg, son of William W., and Eugenia Olive Smith Gallup. His first job was in a bank, and in 1891 he established the Gallup Insurance Company. He entered politics in 1906 when he was elected to the city council. In 1918-19 he served on the Board of Health and was elected Mayor the next year. In 1924 he was elected to the State Senate on the Republican ticket where he was the chairman of the committee on labor, and industry. Re-elected in 1926 he was defeated in 1928 by Atty. Charles W. Faulkner of Pittsfield. He leaves his wife, the former Katheryn Lyons; three children by a previous marriage; two daughters, Mrs. Allan R. McCann who is the wife of Rear Admiral McCann, now at Pearl Harbor, and Mrs. Walter H. Ridley of Foxboro; a son, Harvey A. Jr.; a sister, Miss Louisa E. Gallup; a brother, Charles L. of Granby; five grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. The body was taken to the Cherry Street residence. The funeral will take place at St. John's Episcopal Church, 2:23 Wednesday afternoon. North Adams Historical Society Gene Carlson Here is the information that I found in the North Adams Transcript files. This is a list of newspaper articles about Admiral McCann. The public library has the Transcripts on microfilm. McCann, Allan Rockwell 3-23-17 To graduate Friday (from US Naval Academy) 3-30-17 Graduated from Annapolis 10-07-18 Marries Katheryn Gallup 6-23-31 Invents submarine rescue device 7-20-31 "McCann Bell" proves worth 1- -32 Citation copies received 1-28-37 Is made commander in U. S. Navy 7-28-37 Assigned to duty in Alaska 5-25-39 Success of submarine rescue bell triumph for him 6-01-39 Name wins applause in House 6-26-39 Navy dept. letter only recognition 9-18-39 Commended for Squalus rescue work 11-23-39 Navy gives 13 nations plans for McCann bell 4-10-41 To command subunit 6-20-41 At the scene of 0-9 disaster. 12-8-41 Commands subs at Pearl Harbor when Japan attacks. 12-17-41 Believed active in U-boat engagement 1-27-42 Promoted to Captain in Navy 5-24-43 In Pacific(?) Squalus there as USS Sailfish. 10-12-43 Returns from a long tour of active duty in submarine warfare upon Japan. 8-14-44 Wins Legion of Merit. Now commands battleship. 12-18-44 Nominated for Rear Admiral 5-4-45 Bronze Star. 5-9-45 Citation made public. 12-21-45 Commands submarine forces. 8-28-47 Leads cruise under the polar cap. 6-21-48 Former N. A., on Navy general board; relieved to take an assignment in Wash. 6-24-48 Former Squalus whose crew members were saved by McCann bell to be scrapped. 6-14-49 Named NAVY INSPECTOR GENERAL. 10-31-49 Ordered to probe navy rebellion, 'The Admirals Rebellion' [more commonly referenced as a 'revolt']. 3-15-50 May be retiring 8-21-51 On way north. 10-10-60 Adm. Lunches with relatives Died Feb 22 1978 in Solana Beach California 2014, History Matters, New England Historical Society. Allan McCann is Called to the Bridge and What He Sees Turns His Stomach. Commander Allan R. McCann was in pajamas at 7:48 on the morning of December 7, 1941. He was a long way from his home town of North Adams, Mass. He was in paradise, in fact . . . Honolulu, Hawaii A 1917 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, McCann had been given command of a submarine group and was in a stateroom aboard the submarine tender, Pelias. The vessel had arrived at Pearl Harbor in November just days earlier after sailing from San Diego to be fitted out for service. McCann was senior officer on board and was doing his daily calisthenics when he received an alert that he was wanted on the bridge. He rushed there, still in his pajamas. What he saw when he got there “turned my stomach upside down". The Pelias was situated in a backwater area of the Pearl Harbor Base. A former passenger liner, it towered above the nearby submarines and offered a panoramic view of battleship row where seven battleships were clustered: California, Oklahoma, Maryland, West Virginia, Tennessee, Arizona and Nevada. The first seamen to see the incoming Japanese planes attacking Pearl Harbor mistook them for friendly aircraft. But as McCann watched, there was no mistaking what was happening. McCann expected the planes to attack the Pelias, but they did not. In planning the attack, the Japanese had photographed the ships it planned to target. Because the Pelias was newly in port, the Japanese probably didn’t know it was there and had made no decision about whether to target it or not. Instead the Japanese focused their efforts on the big battleships, sinking four of them outright, killing more than 2,400 people. They ignored the submarines and the fuel depot. As the attack unfolded, McCann and Captain William Wakefield considered their options. They contemplated putting to sea to get out of the harbor, where the ship would at least make for a moving target. But the harbor was quickly blocked with the flaming wreckage of ships and was impassable. McCann and Wakefield were at first reluctant to have the men on board the ship respond. For starters, the ship had only eight antiaircraft guns, four outdated 23-caliber guns and four 50 caliber guns. To make matters worse, the men were new recruits. They had not had any training on the weapons they did have access to. McCann and Wakefield feared that the men would wind up hitting U.S. ships rather than the Japanese planes. As the scope of the attack became clear (the Japanese had more than 400 planes on the way), the sailors were given the orders to begin firing on the Japanese planes with the limited weapons and training they did have. They were joined by sailors on a nearby submarine firing with a deck machine gun. The results were predictable. The crew reported that they perhaps shot down one plane and may have hit another, forcing it to return to the aircraft carrier that had brought it. McCann was disgusted by the incident, not because of his men’s performance. Virtually none had been in any kind of combat before and few had been to even a target practice. It was the “unbelievable” and “shabby” and “absurd” notion of the Japanese attacking with no declaration of war that disgusted him, according to Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan. To the 25-year plus veteran, it was an unthinkable act of cowardice. McCann, who is best known for his years in the submarine service, including playing a major role in rescuing the sailors trapped in 1939 in the U.S.S. Squalus would serve a number of roles as the war continued. He would distinguish himself as commander of the battleship Iowa in the Pacific and retire as a vice admiral. He was also chosen to transport President Harry Truman to the Potsdam Peace Conference, and he personally informed Truman of the success of the U.S. mission to bomb Hiroshima. He died in 1978. 505355A17679 New York Bureau (Acme) ASSISTS IN DIRECTING SEARCH FOR MISSING SUB, PORTSMOUTH, N H. -- Commander Allan R McCann who also participated in the squalus rescue, and salvage operations, is assisting Capt. J J Brown in directing today's search for the US Submarine O-9, which has been missing since she submerged in a routine dive this morning, this morning off the Isle of Shoals. Credit "Acme" 6-20-41, N H. -- Commander Allan R McCann who also participated in the squalus rescue, and salvage operations, is assisting Capt. J J Brown in directing today's search for the US Submarine O-9, which has been missing since she submerged in a routine dive this morning, this morning off the Isle of Shoals. Credit "Acme" 6-20-41