Naval Operations

Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., who as chief of naval operations in the early 1970s ordered the Navy to end racial discrimination and demeaning restrictions on sailors, then faced a haunting personal tragedy that he linked to ordering the use of the defoliant Agent Orange in Vietnam, died yesterday at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. He was 79 and lived in McLean, Va. The cause was complications from surgery for a cancerous chest tumor. In July 1970, when Admiral Zumwalt, then 49, became the youngest man to serve as the Navy's top-ranking uniformed officer, re-enlistments were plunging in the face of an unpopular war in Vietnam.

William J. Rosenthal, a noted expert in labor and employment law who as a naval deck officer during World War II participated in the D-Day invasion, died March 12 of a hemorrhage at Northwest Hospital. He was 92. "He was a physically imposing person, and when he walked into a room, you could not help but appreciate his presence," said Stephen D. Shawe, a partner in the firm of Shawe & Rosenthal LLP. "He instilled incredible confidence in clients who'd say, 'I've got a lawyer who knows what he is doing.'" The son of a lawyer and a homemaker, William Jay Rosenthal was born in Baltimore and spent his early years on Ducatel Street before moving with his family to Egerton Road in Northwest Baltimore.

WASHINGTON -- Adm. Jeremy "Mike" Boorda, the first sailor ever to rise from the ranks to become the Navy's top admiral, apparently killed himself yesterday at his home in the Washington Navy Yard. About two hours earlier he learned that his right to wear two Vietnam-era combat decorations was being questioned.Boorda, named chief of naval operations by President Clinton two years ago, left behind two written messages that officials described as suicide notes. They were sealed by investigators on the scene and not made public yesterday.

Aviator named new academy commandant Capt. Matthew L. Klunder, a naval aviator based at the Pentagon, was named yesterday as the 83rd commandant of midshipmen at the Naval Academy. Klunder will replace Capt. Margaret D. Klein, the first female commandant, next month. She has been selected for promotion to rear admiral and assignment as operations officer at the Naval Network Warfare Command in Norfolk, Va., according to a news release from the academy. A native of Alexandria, Va., Klunder graduated from the academy in 1982 with a major in physics.

The Navy's top officers have lost their "moral courage," abandoning their battle-tested comrades to Tailhook and "political correctness" and standing silently by while the fleet has been shrunk, former Navy Secretary James H. Webb charged yesterday.In a speech before the U.S. Naval Institute in Annapolis that provoked an angry exchange and a tug of war over the microphone with a former Navy undersecretary, Mr. Webb drew a scathing portrait of Navy leadership.Some admirals -- including the current and former chiefs of naval operations -- would rather preserve or promote their careers and curry favor with politicians than support the service, he said.

WASHINGTON -- Three years ago, the high-flying military career of Joseph W. Prueher seemed finished -- grounded by an incident during his tenure as a top official at the U.S. Naval Academy in which a female midshipman was handcuffed to a urinal.Several Navy officers in the past few years have seen their careers tarnished or short-circuited by criticism over their handling of sexual harassment cases. But thanks to patient support from the top ranks of the Pentagon, Admiral Prueher managed to survive, even flourish.

The Navy has fired a veteran fighter pilot from one of the top jobs in naval aviation because he did not respond quickly to a complaint from an aide that she was sexually harassed at a convention of Navy fliers in September.Rear Adm. John W. Snyder Jr. was removed as commander of the Patuxent River Naval Air Test Center in Lexington Park on Tuesday and transferred to an unspecified job at the Naval Air Systems Command in Crystal City, Va., by Adm. Frank B. Kelso II, chief of naval operations.

The Navy's next chief of naval operations has received some free advice from some of his fellow admirals: Put Tailhook behind you.The man who replaces Adm. Jeremy M. "Mike" Boorda should get a "good handshake" from Defense Secretary William J. Perry and members of the Senate Armed Services Committee "and say, 'I want to go to the Navy and say [Tailhook's] over,' " said retired Adm. Stanley Arthur.Arthur said yesterday that the Navy is still reeling from the infamous 1991 naval aviators' convention in San Diego, where women were groped by drunken fliers.

Retired Rear Adm. Edward Aberle Ruckner, 81, died Thursday at Anne Arundel Medical Center of heart failure.Funeral services were being held today in St. Andrew's Chapel at the Naval Academy.Admiral Ruckner had lived in Annapolis for 20 years since retiring from the Navy.Born in Jersey City, N.J., he attended Rutgers University before entering the Naval Academy and graduating in 1932. He also earned a master's degree in electrical engineering in 1941 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Vice Adm. Kleber Sandlin Masterson, 89, a battleship gunnery officer in World War II and an ordnance expert who helped build the Navy's arsenal of nuclear missiles, died May 3 at Inova Alexandria Hospital in Alexandria, Va.As a newly promoted rear admiral in 1957, Vice Admiral Masterson commanded the missile division in the Office of Naval Operations and joined a ballistic missiles committee that played a leading role in equipping the Navy's nuclear submarine...

At the behest of U.S. Sen. John McCain, 22 fellow former prisoners of war walked onto the stage at the cavernous Naval Academy chapel yesterday to honor a fallen comrade: Vice Adm. William Porter Lawrence. They fell into a formation of sorts behind McCain, some limping and struggling to stand while they made two lines and faced the 1,000 people who had also come to pay their respects to Lawrence, who died in his sleep Dec. 2 at his Crownsville home at age 75. As one of the highest-ranking officers in the notorious "Hanoi Hilton" during the Vietnam War, Lawrence had acted as commander and adviser to many of the men, helping them to resist the constant torture and cruelty they faced for years in the prison.

Navy officials say they will move quickly to find a new superintendent for the Naval Academy, hoping to restore stability to the service's showcase institution after Vice Adm. Richard J. Naughton resigned this week amid charges of improper conduct. The goal, they said, is to have a permanent successor in place by the start of classes Aug. 20. Already, influential alumni are lobbying the Pentagon for favorites, say officials close to the academy. Some want to install a first-ever Marine.

Vice Adm. Richard J. Naughton has resigned as superintendent of the Naval Academy, stung by a Navy investigation that found that he had used "unlawful force" against a school guard and that his imperious leadership style had humiliated and demoralized the faculty and staff. In a report released yesterday, the Naval Inspector General found that Naughton, a three-star admiral who took command a year ago, had grabbed a young Marine who asked for Naughton's ID at a school gate on New Year's Eve. The 65-page report also recounts a dozen encounters in which Naughton "embarrassed and humiliated subordinates through conduct that is inappropriate for a commander."

A Baltimore native who is the Navy's chief recruiting official tops a short list of candidates to replace Vice Adm. John R. Ryan as superintendent of the Naval Academy, Pentagon sources said yesterday. Rear Adm. George E. Voelker, 51, a 1972 academy graduate who heads the Navy's Recruiting Command, is the leading candidate for the top post at the 4,000-student military college, several sources said. The Pentagon is expected to announce its choice in the next couple of weeks. Though 23 three-star admirals and 46 two-star admirals are technically eligible for the superintendent's post, many fewer are close enough to the end of their careers to want -- or qualify for -- the job. Navy officials have also given preference to academy graduates, further shrinking the pool.

Adm. Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., who as chief of naval operations in the early 1970s ordered the Navy to end racial discrimination and demeaning restrictions on sailors, then faced a haunting personal tragedy that he linked to ordering the use of the defoliant Agent Orange in Vietnam, died yesterday at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. He was 79 and lived in McLean, Va. The cause was complications from surgery for a cancerous chest tumor. In July 1970, when Admiral Zumwalt, then 49, became the youngest man to serve as the Navy's top-ranking uniformed officer, re-enlistments were plunging in the face of an unpopular war in Vietnam.

Vice Adm. Kleber Sandlin Masterson, 89, a battleship gunnery officer in World War II and an ordnance expert who helped build the Navy's arsenal of nuclear missiles, died May 3 at Inova Alexandria Hospital in Alexandria, Va.As a newly promoted rear admiral in 1957, Vice Admiral Masterson commanded the missile division in the Office of Naval Operations and joined a ballistic missiles committee that played a leading role in equipping the Navy's nuclear submarine...

Adm. David L. McDonald, 91, a former chief of naval operations credited with building the Navy combat air force that flew in Vietnam, died Tuesday of kidney failure at Baptist Medical Center-Beaches, said his daughter, Mary Lou Thornton, of Atlantic Beach, Fla.A native of Maysville, Ga., and a Naval Academy graduate, he became a naval aviator in 1931 and rose to the rank of four-star admiral by April 1, 1963. He was the nation's 17th chief of naval operations serving from 1963 to 1967.Catherine McDonald, his wife of 67 years, died in November.

At the U.S. Naval Academy, somber officers and midshipmen paused yesterday afternoon to grieve the death of their leader.Even though he was the first enlisted sailor to rise through the ranks to become the Navy's commander, Adm. Jeremy "Mike" Boorda had a deep affection for the academy and was a regular visitor to Annapolis.Boorda also was remembered as giving an inspiring speech just last month that cheered the beleaguered school in the wake of several embarrassing cases of student wrongdoing.

Adm. David L. McDonald, 91, a former chief of naval operations credited with building the Navy combat air force that flew in Vietnam, died Tuesday of kidney failure at Baptist Medical Center-Beaches, said his daughter, Mary Lou Thornton, of Atlantic Beach, Fla.A native of Maysville, Ga., and a Naval Academy graduate, he became a naval aviator in 1931 and rose to the rank of four-star admiral by April 1, 1963. He was the nation's 17th chief of naval operations serving from 1963 to 1967.Catherine McDonald, his wife of 67 years, died in November.

THE NAVAL ACADEMY in Annapolis is an institution that deserves scrutiny as well as respect. Each year it takes a thousand high school graduates -- proverbially the best and the brightest -- and in four years is supposed to turn them into officers headed to the highest ranks of the service.To prepare midshipmen for what could be life-and-death tasks ahead,the Navy puts them through a plebe year known as pure hell and a college-length curriculum that is tough academically and physically.Yet the greatest burden is neither.