Morton Deyo
Encyclopedia
Vice Admiral
Morton Lyndholm Deyo (1 July 1887 – November 1973) was an officer in the United States Navy
, who was a naval gunfire support task force commander of World War II
.
Born on 1 July 1887 in Poughkeepsie, New York
, he graduated from the United States Naval Academy
in 1911, and served over a career of 38 years. His highest Navy rank
in active service was Rear Admiral, attaining Vice Admiral at retirement. He was awarded three medals of personal honor, the Distinguished Service Medal (Navy), and the Legion of Merit with Gold Star.
Deyo served in both the Atlantic
and Pacific Fleets. In the Atlantic, he commanded the destroyer
s which provided the first American escort assistance to allied convoys to England
just prior to the Japan
ese attack on Pearl Harbor
. He later commanded naval gunfire support at Utah Beach
in the Normandy invasion, Task Force 129 at the Bombardment of Cherbourg
, as well as during the invasion of Southern France.
When transferred to the Pacific, Rear Admiral Deyo assumed command of Cruiser Division 13 (CruDiv 13). He commanded gunfire and covering force for the assault and occupation of Battle of Okinawa
. During the battle, he was the last naval commander to form a battle line with battleships as they prepared to intercept the Japanese battleship Yamato
. At the war's end, he accepted the surrender of Japanese forces at Sasebo, Kyushu and directed the Allied Occupational of Western Japan.
Morton Deyo was aboard the USS Virginia (battleship No. 13) about the time she participated in coaling-at-sea operations. In the years of his service aboard the Virginia, she will take station off Tampico and Vera Cruz, Mexico. In tour a cut short by decommissioning in 1914, the Duncan went to the Caribbean for training, target practice and exercises. In 1914 and 1915, Deyo served aboard USS Washington (Armored Cruiser No. 11) under Captain Edward W. Eberle, commanding. The ship was stationed off of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, for diplomatic service, Vera Cruz, Mexico, Cap Haitien, Haiti and returned to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, when a crisis recurred there. Deyo’s last tour in the Caribbean before marriage and World War I was aboard the destroyer Jenkins (DD-42). She sailed to Tampico, Mexico and later supported the U.S. occupation of Vera Cruz. Jenkins was assigned patrol operations to search for possible German U-boats. Morton Lyndholm Dayo married Maria Ten Eyck Decatur Mayo in 1916.
As an aide to the Commandant, First Naval District, Boston, 1920-1921 Deyo was a part of an ongoing upgrading of Naval District that would remain in place from 1920 to the outbreak of World War II. The First District absorbed the Second in 1919, and it expanded from a coastal strip to encompass inland states to more nearly correspond to Army districts. The District acquired its own full-time staff, gained new operational functions, and expanded administrative and logistical responsibilities. Proposal for reform of the Naval district regulations were to be revised to embody the lessons of World War I. This is fundamental naval strategy. Mahan had written, "deficient coast protection reacts unfavorably upon the war fleet, which in all its movements should be free from any responsibility for the mere safety of the ports it quits.” Deyo’s next assignment was as an aide to the U.S. military governor at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Service aboard one ship, and command of another prepared Deyo for duty ashore in a politically and diplomatically sensitive role. In 1914-1915, Deyo served on the USS Washington (armored cruiser, No. 11) during service related to Santo Domingo, Domincan Republic, Vera Cruz, Mexico, and Cape Haitien, Haiti. Capt. Edward W. Eberle, commanding, was active in U.S. attempts to mediate between government and insurgent forces towards a constitutonal government with "observed" elections. When then Lieutenant Commander Deyo had his first command in the USS Morris DD-271, he was attached to the "Adriatic Detachment" performing political and diplomatic duties among nations of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1921-1923, Deyo served on the staff of the military governor closing out the American occupation of Santo Domingo. The military governor at the time was Warren Harding’s appointment to fulfill his campaign promise to end the Wilson occupation of the Dominican Republic. Rear Adm. Samuel S. Robinson served from 1921. The occupation officially ended July 1, 1924.
In 1923 Deyo was assigned to the staff Battleship Fleet, aboard the USS California.
As a part of the new full time staff in the First Naval District, Boston, in 1918, Deyo taught destroyer seamanship. He was assigned the year after Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, then Commander, Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet, became Commander of United States Convoy Operations in the Atlantic in addition to his other duties. He was next transferred to the troopship ‘’Northern Pacific’’ as a part of its regular USN officer complement. World War I movement of a million men and their supplies was unprecedented. The crews of harbor and pilot boats, inshore scouts and patrol craft, new merchantmen, escorting vessels, all required training. In the First Naval District, Deyo was a part of the destroyer piece.
Following early armored cruiser service in the Caribbean., World War I destroyer service operating in the North Atlantic., and cruiser service crossing the Pacific., Morton Deyo was assigned to a three-year tour teaching seamanship at the Naval Academy, 1926-1929. He was appointed during the tenure of Superintendent Rear Admiral Lewis M. Nulton and completed his tour under Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison with whom he served in the Dominican Republic.
He returned to sea to take command of destroyer USS Sloat.
His exemplary promise as a commander at sea resulted in an appointment to the Naval War College staff immediately following his study there. He then returned to sea in 1934 as the Executive Officer aboard the light cruiser USS Milwaukee.
With accumulating experience in escort service in the Atlantic, fleet staff service crossing the Pacific, and Asiatic Squadron staff duty for operations and war plans during Japanese expansion, Deyo was perpared for Main Navy assignments from 1939 to 1941 as the Navy's assistant hydographer, then aide to the Secretary of the Navy until war sent him to sea again.
Then Captain Morton Deyo, was escort commander of Task Unit 4.1.1 and the Commodore of Destroyer Squadron 11.. His group was tasked to escort 44 merchant ships ranging from a luxury liner to a rusty ship of the Levant
. His pennant Ericsson and the Eberle, were the only modern destroyers in the group. The others were “four-pipers” with “outmoded equipment and low fuel capacity” including the ships of two other squadron commanders. Canadian escorts protected the convoy for the first 350 miles, then the Americans until point “Momp” when the British escorted ships to Britain. Deyo then proceeded with the American destroyers to Iceland with three American merchantmen and one Icelandic.
There was no submarine attack, but the Navy destroyers were inexperienced in their seamanship. They progressed from patrolling only on calm moonlit nights within 1,000 yards of the convoy and staying on station if there was fog, to patrolling 5,000 yards out whatever the sea condition or visibility. U-boat searches were extended to over an hour at a time. Still there was extra work to escorting this convoy. Stragglers, breakdowns and laggards created a ragged formation which was difficult to cordon. The convoy could not sit in the water, so it made numerous course changes to buy time for at-sea overhaul of those falling behind. Nevertheless, when the Nigaristan sank in high winds and rolling seas, the Eberle rescued the entire 63-man crew. On return to the U.S., “Captain Deyo made a number of adversely critical comments in his report” relative to the demands of anti-submarine warfare,” leadership, seamanship and marksmanship.”
On 6 June 1944, now Rear Admiral Deyo commanded the western Operation Neptune
Force “U”, supporting the landing of the American First Army at Utah and Omaha beaches.
Deyo commanded Combined Task Force 129
(TF 129), supports General Collins Army VII Corps in taking Cherbourg, France
. The American and British ships duel port-city shore batteries and surrounding German defenses. Texas BB-35, destroyers Barton DD722, Laffey DD724, O’Brien DD725 are all damaged by enemy fire.
Naval bombardment for the invasion of Southern France
was commanded by Admiral Deyo.
Rear Admiral Deyo took over Cruiser Division 13 (CruDiv 13) from Rear Admiral Laurance T. DuBose. The Division consisted of four light cruiser
s - USS Biloxi, USS Birmingham
, USS Mobile
, and USS Santa Fe
.
From 24 March to 4 May 1945, TF 54 under the command of Rear Adm. Deyo commanded battleships, cruisers and destroyers in the bombardment of Kerama Retto and southeast coast of Okinawa, Japan.
Following the war, he directed the landing of occupational forces in Northern Japan.
was the 27th Spruance class destroyer
and the first ship to be named in honor to Vice Admiral Deyo. She was commissioned on March 22, 1980. The DEYO was last home-ported in Norfolk, Va. Stricken from the Navy list on April 6, 2003, she was sunk as a target on August 25, 2005 in the Atlantic.
1887, July 1 Born, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
1916 Married Maria Ten Eyck Decatur Mayo
1949 Retired from navy as vice admiral
1973, Nov. 10 Died, Portsmouth, N.H.
Early service
1911 Graduated, United States Naval Academy
1911-1913 Served on Virginia (Battleship)
1913-1914 Served on Duncan (Destroyer)
1914-1915 Served on Washington (Heavy cruiser)
1915-1916 Served on Jenkins (Destroyer)
1916-1918 Served on Allen (Destroyer), Ireland, "Sim's Destroyers"
1918 Trained destroyer crews, First Naval District, Boston, Mass.
1918-1919 Served on Northern Pacific, troop transport, Europe to U.S.
1919 Served on Pretoria (German ship taken over as transport)
Interwar
1919-1920 Commanding Morris (Destroyer), Adriatic, Mediterranean
1920-1921 Aide to commandant, First Naval District, Boston, Mass.
1921-1923 Aide to military governor, Santo Domingo
1923-1925 Staff, Battleship Fleet, California (Flagship)
1925-1926 Staff, U.S. Fleet, Seattle (Flagship)
1926-1929 Instructor in seamanship, U.S. Naval Academy
1929-1930 Commanding Sloat (Destroyer)
1930-1931 Commanding Upshur (Destroyer)
1931-1934 Student, staff, Naval War College, Newport, RI
1934-1936 Executive officer, Milwaukee (Light cruiser)
Pre-war
1936-1939 Operations and war plans, staff, U.S. Asiatic Fleet, Augusta (Flag)
1939-1940 Assistant hydrographer, Navy Department, Washington DC
1940-1941 Aide to Secretary of the Navy, Washington DC
Atlantic
1941 Commanding Destroyer Squadron II, Atlantic, first convoy to Iceland
1942 Commanding Monticello (Auxiliary transport)
1942 Commanding Indianapolis (Heavy cruiser), Aleutians bombardment
1942-1943 Commanding destroyers, Atlantic Fleet
1944 Commanding Ranger Task Group Atlantic
1944 Commanded bombardment, Normandy and southern France, Atlantic
Pacific
1944 Commanded Cruiser Division 13, Task Forces in 3rd and 5th Fleets, Pacific
1945 Commanded Task Force 54, Okinawa campaign, Pacific
Post-war
1945 Commanded Task Forces 55 and 56, surrender, occupation of Japan
1946-1949 Commandant, First Naval District, Boston, Mass.
Vice admiral (United States)
In the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, and the United States Maritime Service, vice admiral is a three-star flag officer, with the pay grade of...
Morton Lyndholm Deyo (1 July 1887 – November 1973) was an officer in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
, who was a naval gunfire support task force commander of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Born on 1 July 1887 in Poughkeepsie, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, he graduated from the United States Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
in 1911, and served over a career of 38 years. His highest Navy rank
United States Navy officer rank insignia
In the United States Navy, officers have various ranks. Equivalency between services is by pay grade.-Rank categories:In the U.S. Navy, pay grades for officers are:...
in active service was Rear Admiral, attaining Vice Admiral at retirement. He was awarded three medals of personal honor, the Distinguished Service Medal (Navy), and the Legion of Merit with Gold Star.
Deyo served in both the Atlantic
U.S. Atlantic Fleet
The United States Fleet Forces Command is an Atlantic Ocean theater-level component command of the United States Navy that provides naval resources that are under the operational control of the United States Northern Command...
and Pacific Fleets. In the Atlantic, he commanded the destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s which provided the first American escort assistance to allied convoys to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
just prior to the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
. He later commanded naval gunfire support at Utah Beach
Utah Beach
Utah Beach was the code name for the right flank, or westernmost, of the Allied landing beaches during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, as part of Operation Overlord on 6 June 1944...
in the Normandy invasion, Task Force 129 at the Bombardment of Cherbourg
Bombardment of Cherbourg
The Bombardment of Cherbourg was undertaken by ships of the United States Navy and Royal Navy on June 25, 1944 to support United States Army units engaged in the Battle of Cherbourg. The Allied force attacked the German fortifications near the city and engaged in a duel with coastal batteries...
, as well as during the invasion of Southern France.
When transferred to the Pacific, Rear Admiral Deyo assumed command of Cruiser Division 13 (CruDiv 13). He commanded gunfire and covering force for the assault and occupation of Battle of Okinawa
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945...
. During the battle, he was the last naval commander to form a battle line with battleships as they prepared to intercept the Japanese battleship Yamato
Japanese battleship Yamato
, named after the ancient Japanese Yamato Province, was the lead ship of the Yamato class of battleships that served with the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. She and her sister ship, Musashi, were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed, displacing...
. At the war's end, he accepted the surrender of Japanese forces at Sasebo, Kyushu and directed the Allied Occupational of Western Japan.
Early Career
Morton Deyo's career ashore meshed with the seagoing responsibilities he would take on at each stage of his career. Training at the U.S. Naval Academy prepared him in engineering and seamanship. He graduated out of the Class of 1911. Most of his academy years were under Superintendent Captain John M. Bowyer at a time of two-year rotations. Deyo then took his first assignment at sea aboard the battleship, USS Virginia.Caribbean service
Early assignments at sea placed Morton Deyo in the Caribbean.Morton Deyo was aboard the USS Virginia (battleship No. 13) about the time she participated in coaling-at-sea operations. In the years of his service aboard the Virginia, she will take station off Tampico and Vera Cruz, Mexico. In tour a cut short by decommissioning in 1914, the Duncan went to the Caribbean for training, target practice and exercises. In 1914 and 1915, Deyo served aboard USS Washington (Armored Cruiser No. 11) under Captain Edward W. Eberle, commanding. The ship was stationed off of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, for diplomatic service, Vera Cruz, Mexico, Cap Haitien, Haiti and returned to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, when a crisis recurred there. Deyo’s last tour in the Caribbean before marriage and World War I was aboard the destroyer Jenkins (DD-42). She sailed to Tampico, Mexico and later supported the U.S. occupation of Vera Cruz. Jenkins was assigned patrol operations to search for possible German U-boats. Morton Lyndholm Dayo married Maria Ten Eyck Decatur Mayo in 1916.
As an aide to the Commandant, First Naval District, Boston, 1920-1921 Deyo was a part of an ongoing upgrading of Naval District that would remain in place from 1920 to the outbreak of World War II. The First District absorbed the Second in 1919, and it expanded from a coastal strip to encompass inland states to more nearly correspond to Army districts. The District acquired its own full-time staff, gained new operational functions, and expanded administrative and logistical responsibilities. Proposal for reform of the Naval district regulations were to be revised to embody the lessons of World War I. This is fundamental naval strategy. Mahan had written, "deficient coast protection reacts unfavorably upon the war fleet, which in all its movements should be free from any responsibility for the mere safety of the ports it quits.” Deyo’s next assignment was as an aide to the U.S. military governor at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Service aboard one ship, and command of another prepared Deyo for duty ashore in a politically and diplomatically sensitive role. In 1914-1915, Deyo served on the USS Washington (armored cruiser, No. 11) during service related to Santo Domingo, Domincan Republic, Vera Cruz, Mexico, and Cape Haitien, Haiti. Capt. Edward W. Eberle, commanding, was active in U.S. attempts to mediate between government and insurgent forces towards a constitutonal government with "observed" elections. When then Lieutenant Commander Deyo had his first command in the USS Morris DD-271, he was attached to the "Adriatic Detachment" performing political and diplomatic duties among nations of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1921-1923, Deyo served on the staff of the military governor closing out the American occupation of Santo Domingo. The military governor at the time was Warren Harding’s appointment to fulfill his campaign promise to end the Wilson occupation of the Dominican Republic. Rear Adm. Samuel S. Robinson served from 1921. The occupation officially ended July 1, 1924.
In 1923 Deyo was assigned to the staff Battleship Fleet, aboard the USS California.
World War I
As a part of the new full time staff in the First Naval District, Boston, in 1918, Deyo taught destroyer seamanship. He was assigned the year after Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, then Commander, Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet, became Commander of United States Convoy Operations in the Atlantic in addition to his other duties. He was next transferred to the troopship ‘’Northern Pacific’’ as a part of its regular USN officer complement. World War I movement of a million men and their supplies was unprecedented. The crews of harbor and pilot boats, inshore scouts and patrol craft, new merchantmen, escorting vessels, all required training. In the First Naval District, Deyo was a part of the destroyer piece.
1920s Pacific
Deyo was attached to Admiral Samuel S. Robison’s personal staff of ten officers aboard the USS Seattle (CA-11) in 1925-1926. Now a Lieutenant Commander, Deyo was the most junior officer as Flag Lieutenant. The next rung up the ladder was the Assistant Chief of Staff, then Commander Chester W. Nimitz.Following early armored cruiser service in the Caribbean., World War I destroyer service operating in the North Atlantic., and cruiser service crossing the Pacific., Morton Deyo was assigned to a three-year tour teaching seamanship at the Naval Academy, 1926-1929. He was appointed during the tenure of Superintendent Rear Admiral Lewis M. Nulton and completed his tour under Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison with whom he served in the Dominican Republic.
He returned to sea to take command of destroyer USS Sloat.
His exemplary promise as a commander at sea resulted in an appointment to the Naval War College staff immediately following his study there. He then returned to sea in 1934 as the Executive Officer aboard the light cruiser USS Milwaukee.
World War II in the Atlantic
With accumulating experience in escort service in the Atlantic, fleet staff service crossing the Pacific, and Asiatic Squadron staff duty for operations and war plans during Japanese expansion, Deyo was perpared for Main Navy assignments from 1939 to 1941 as the Navy's assistant hydographer, then aide to the Secretary of the Navy until war sent him to sea again.
Then Captain Morton Deyo, was escort commander of Task Unit 4.1.1 and the Commodore of Destroyer Squadron 11.. His group was tasked to escort 44 merchant ships ranging from a luxury liner to a rusty ship of the Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
. His pennant Ericsson and the Eberle, were the only modern destroyers in the group. The others were “four-pipers” with “outmoded equipment and low fuel capacity” including the ships of two other squadron commanders. Canadian escorts protected the convoy for the first 350 miles, then the Americans until point “Momp” when the British escorted ships to Britain. Deyo then proceeded with the American destroyers to Iceland with three American merchantmen and one Icelandic.
There was no submarine attack, but the Navy destroyers were inexperienced in their seamanship. They progressed from patrolling only on calm moonlit nights within 1,000 yards of the convoy and staying on station if there was fog, to patrolling 5,000 yards out whatever the sea condition or visibility. U-boat searches were extended to over an hour at a time. Still there was extra work to escorting this convoy. Stragglers, breakdowns and laggards created a ragged formation which was difficult to cordon. The convoy could not sit in the water, so it made numerous course changes to buy time for at-sea overhaul of those falling behind. Nevertheless, when the Nigaristan sank in high winds and rolling seas, the Eberle rescued the entire 63-man crew. On return to the U.S., “Captain Deyo made a number of adversely critical comments in his report” relative to the demands of anti-submarine warfare,” leadership, seamanship and marksmanship.”
On 6 June 1944, now Rear Admiral Deyo commanded the western Operation Neptune
Operation Neptune
The Normandy landings, codenamed Operation Neptune, were the landing operations of the Allied invasion of Normandy, in Operation Overlord, during World War II. The landings commenced on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 , beginning at 6:30 AM British Double Summer Time...
Force “U”, supporting the landing of the American First Army at Utah and Omaha beaches.
Deyo commanded Combined Task Force 129
Bombardment of Cherbourg
The Bombardment of Cherbourg was undertaken by ships of the United States Navy and Royal Navy on June 25, 1944 to support United States Army units engaged in the Battle of Cherbourg. The Allied force attacked the German fortifications near the city and engaged in a duel with coastal batteries...
(TF 129), supports General Collins Army VII Corps in taking Cherbourg, France
Battle of Cherbourg
The Battle of Cherbourg was part of the Battle of Normandy during World War II. It was fought immediately after the successful Allied landings on June 6, 1944...
. The American and British ships duel port-city shore batteries and surrounding German defenses. Texas BB-35, destroyers Barton DD722, Laffey DD724, O’Brien DD725 are all damaged by enemy fire.
Naval bombardment for the invasion of Southern France
Operation Dragoon
Operation Dragoon was the Allied invasion of southern France on August 15, 1944, during World War II. The invasion was initiated via a parachute drop by the 1st Airborne Task Force, followed by an amphibious assault by elements of the U.S. Seventh Army, followed a day later by a force made up...
was commanded by Admiral Deyo.
World War II in the Pacific
Admiral Deyo's crowning achievement in the Pacific was command of gunfire and covering force for the assault and occupation of Okinawa. It was for service off Okinawa that he was awarded the Navy distinguished service medal.Rear Admiral Deyo took over Cruiser Division 13 (CruDiv 13) from Rear Admiral Laurance T. DuBose. The Division consisted of four light cruiser
Light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...
s - USS Biloxi, USS Birmingham
USS Birmingham (CL-62)
USS Birmingham , a light cruiser named for the city of Birmingham, Alabama, the "Steel City", was a Cleveland class light cruiser laid down at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company of Newport News in Virginia on 17 February 1941 and launched on 20 March 1942 by Mrs. Cooper Green, wife...
, USS Mobile
USS Mobile (CL-63)
USS Mobile was Cleveland-class light cruiser of the United States Navy. She was the third ship named for Mobile, Alabama.She was laid down on 14 April 1941 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Virginia; launched on 15 May 1942; sponsored by Mrs. Harry T. Hartwell; and...
, and USS Santa Fe
USS Santa Fe (CL-60)
USS Santa Fe , a Cleveland-class light cruiser was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico.-Construction:...
.
From 24 March to 4 May 1945, TF 54 under the command of Rear Adm. Deyo commanded battleships, cruisers and destroyers in the bombardment of Kerama Retto and southeast coast of Okinawa, Japan.
Following the war, he directed the landing of occupational forces in Northern Japan.
Cold War
Morton Deyo’s last duty station, 1946-1949, was Commandant, First Naval District, Boston. Working out inter-service and inter-department conflicts was a serious goal for the U.S. Navy going into the Cold War. As of September 1945, the qualifications for a district commandant were those of a line officer eligible for command at sea, and the shipyard (specialist) commands were no longer to be held by the same officer. Deyo met the new qualification for District Commandant, and had served at Boston twice before as an instructor and aide to the Commandant during a time of reorganization. Inefficiency from command conflicts were taken under study even before the war ended by the "Farber Committee". The main feature of reform related to the various types of authority over district activities. The Commandant was to have coordinating "military command" over all activities in the district akin to Army districts. The Navy Secretary directed satisfactory relationships. With a background of local relationships, technical expertise, leadership and diplomatic skills, Morton Deyo was the man chosen to make it happen. He retired at the end of his tour with a promotion to Vice Admiral.Namesake
The destroyer USS Deyo (DD-989)USS Deyo (DD-989)
USS Deyo , a Spruance-class destroyer, was a ship of the United States Navy named for Vice Admiral Morton L. Deyo , a veteran destroyerman and distinguished naval gunfire support task force commander of World War II....
was the 27th Spruance class destroyer
Spruance class destroyer
The Spruance-class destroyer was developed by the United States to replace a large number of World War II-built Allen M. Sumner- and Gearing-class destroyers, and was the primary destroyer built for the U.S. Navy during the 1970s....
and the first ship to be named in honor to Vice Admiral Deyo. She was commissioned on March 22, 1980. The DEYO was last home-ported in Norfolk, Va. Stricken from the Navy list on April 6, 2003, she was sunk as a target on August 25, 2005 in the Atlantic.
Biographical timeline
Milestones1887, July 1 Born, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
1916 Married Maria Ten Eyck Decatur Mayo
1949 Retired from navy as vice admiral
1973, Nov. 10 Died, Portsmouth, N.H.
Early service
1911 Graduated, United States Naval Academy
1911-1913 Served on Virginia (Battleship)
1913-1914 Served on Duncan (Destroyer)
1914-1915 Served on Washington (Heavy cruiser)
1915-1916 Served on Jenkins (Destroyer)
1916-1918 Served on Allen (Destroyer), Ireland, "Sim's Destroyers"
1918 Trained destroyer crews, First Naval District, Boston, Mass.
1918-1919 Served on Northern Pacific, troop transport, Europe to U.S.
1919 Served on Pretoria (German ship taken over as transport)
Interwar
1919-1920 Commanding Morris (Destroyer), Adriatic, Mediterranean
1920-1921 Aide to commandant, First Naval District, Boston, Mass.
1921-1923 Aide to military governor, Santo Domingo
1923-1925 Staff, Battleship Fleet, California (Flagship)
1925-1926 Staff, U.S. Fleet, Seattle (Flagship)
1926-1929 Instructor in seamanship, U.S. Naval Academy
1929-1930 Commanding Sloat (Destroyer)
1930-1931 Commanding Upshur (Destroyer)
1931-1934 Student, staff, Naval War College, Newport, RI
1934-1936 Executive officer, Milwaukee (Light cruiser)
Pre-war
1936-1939 Operations and war plans, staff, U.S. Asiatic Fleet, Augusta (Flag)
1939-1940 Assistant hydrographer, Navy Department, Washington DC
1940-1941 Aide to Secretary of the Navy, Washington DC
Atlantic
1941 Commanding Destroyer Squadron II, Atlantic, first convoy to Iceland
1942 Commanding Monticello (Auxiliary transport)
1942 Commanding Indianapolis (Heavy cruiser), Aleutians bombardment
1942-1943 Commanding destroyers, Atlantic Fleet
1944 Commanding Ranger Task Group Atlantic
1944 Commanded bombardment, Normandy and southern France, Atlantic
Pacific
1944 Commanded Cruiser Division 13, Task Forces in 3rd and 5th Fleets, Pacific
1945 Commanded Task Force 54, Okinawa campaign, Pacific
Post-war
1945 Commanded Task Forces 55 and 56, surrender, occupation of Japan
1946-1949 Commandant, First Naval District, Boston, Mass.