Thomas C. Hart
Encyclopedia
Thomas Charles Hart was an admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...

 of 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...

, whose service extended from the Spanish-American War through World War II. Following his retirement from the Navy, he served briefly as a United States Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 from Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

.

Life and career

Hart was born in Genesee County, Michigan
Genesee County, Michigan
-Interstates:* I-69* I-75* I-475-Michigan State Trunklines:* M-13* M-15* M-21* M-54* M-57-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 436,141 people, 169,825 households, and 115,990 families residing in the county. The population density was 682 people per square mile . There were 183,630...

. 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 1897 and served his initial tours of sea duty in the battleship and in the steam yacht , during the Spanish-American War
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...

.

In the years preceding World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Hart filled a variety of sea and shore duty billets: as a junior officer in battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...

s, torpedo boat
Torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...

s, and submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

s; as an instructor at the Naval Academy; as aide to an Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Assistant Secretary of the Navy is the title given to certain civilian senior officials in the United States Department of the Navy....

; and as commander of the Pacific Torpedo Flotilla. By the spring of 1917, Hart was commanding the cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...

  and Naval Submarine Base New London
Naval Submarine Base New London
Naval Submarine Base New London is the United States Navy's primary submarine base, the "Home of the Submarine Force", and "the Submarine Capital of the World".-History:...

, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

, while also acting as Chief of Staff to the Commander, Submarine Force, Atlantic Fleet.

At noon on Wednesday, 30 March 1910, at N Street, Annapolis, Maryland, in the home of Rear Admiral and Mrs. Willard H. Brownson
Willard H. Brownson
Rear Admiral Willard Herbert Brownson, USN was a United States Navy officer whose career included service against pirates in Mexico, and service during the Spanish-American War. He also served a term as Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy.-Early Life and Career:A native of Lyons, New...

, (Superintendent U.S. Naval Academy, 1902–1905) and in the presence of a small company of naval officers and friends Lieutenant Commander Thomas Charles Hart, USN, was married to Ms. Caroline Brownson, daughter of Rear Admiral and Mrs. Brownson. The wedding ceremony was conducted by Chaplain Clarke, USN, of the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel. The bride was attended by her sister Mrs. C. L. Hussey (matron of honor), Ms. Edith Cutler of Brookline, Massachusetts, and Ms. Cecile Gifford of Jamestown, New York. One of the bride's maids was Ms. Harriet Sutherland of Washington D.C. - daughter of Senator George Sutherland
George Sutherland
Alexander George Sutherland was an English-born U.S. jurist and political figure. One of four appointments to the Supreme Court by President Warren G. Harding, he served as an Associate Justice of the U.S...

 (Republican - Utah). Best man was Lieutenant Commander Leigh C. Palmer, USN (White House naval aide), and other groom's men were Lieutenant Commanders R. K. Crank, L. M. Overstreet, and Lieutenant H. W. Osterhaus. Following the ceremony, Lieutenant Commander and Mrs. W. H. Hart took a house in Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline, Massachusetts
Brookline is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, which borders on the cities of Boston and Newton. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 58,732.-Etymology:...

. Their home was close to the Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts, where LCDR Hart was assigned inspecting the building of the new in which he was assigned to prior to its commissioning (Monday, 11 April 1910). They spent their honeymoon at the newly rebuilt luxury resort "The Homestead", in Hot Springs, Bath County, Virginia
Hot Springs, Virginia
Hot Springs is a census-designated place in Bath County, Virginia, United States. The population as of the 2010 Census was 738. It is located about 5 miles southwest of Warm Springs on U.S. Route 220. Hot Springs is the site of a number of resorts that make use of the springs.The area is...

.

His daughter, Harriet Taft Hart, was the wife of Francis B. Sayre, Jr.
Francis B. Sayre, Jr.
The Very Rev. Francis B. Sayre Jr. was Dean of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. for 27 years. He was the fourth grandchild of President Woodrow Wilson....

, who was the son of President Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

's daughter Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre
Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre
Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre was a daughter of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and a political activist. “She worked vigorously for women's suffrage, social issues, and to promote her father's call for a League of Nations, and emerged as a force in the Massachusetts Democratic...

.

World War I

During World War I, Hart served concurrently as commander of Submarine Divisions 2 and 5, with as his flagship
Flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...

. One division was based at Bantry Bay
Bantry Bay
Bantry Bay is a bay located in County Cork, southwest Ireland. The bay runs approximately from northeast to southwest into the Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 3-to-4 km wide at the head and wide at the entrance....

, protecting sea approaches to the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...

; the second was based at Punta Delgada
Punta Delgada
Punta Delgada is a rural tourist accommodation department Viedma in the north of the province of Chubut, Argentina, on the Golfo Nuevo, in the Peninsula Valdes....

 in the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...

, protecting routes to that vital island. In 1918, after temporary duty with the British Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

, Hart was appointed Director of Submarines in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations
Chief of Naval Operations
The Chief of Naval Operations is a statutory office held by a four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Navy. The office is a military adviser and deputy to the Secretary of the Navy...

. Serving in this office as its head until 1922, Hart fought doggedly to improve the lot of the submarine arm of the Navy. His tenacity was responsible for the U.S. Navy's acquisition of surrendered German U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

s after World War I to learn the details of the technical innovations incorporated in the erstwhile enemy craft.

Interwar years

Receiving the Distinguished Service Medal
Distinguished Service Medal (United States)
The Distinguished Service Medal is the highest non-valorous military and civilian decoration of the United States military which is issued for exceptionally meritorious service to the government of the United States in either a senior government service position or as a senior officer of the United...

 (DSM) for his service as Director of Submarines, Hart spent the ensuing years of the 1920s and 1930s in a succession of sea and shore billets as he advanced up the Navy ladder. He studied at both the Army and Navy War College
Naval War College
The Naval War College is an education and research institution of the United States Navy that specializes in developing ideas for naval warfare and passing them along to officers of the Navy. The college is located on the grounds of Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island...

s; commanded the Atlantic Fleet Submarine Divisions, battleship , and Submarine Flotilla 3; served as Assistant Commandant of the 3d Naval District; Inspector of Ordnance at the Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, R.I.
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

; and Commander of the Control Force. After a tour as Superintendent of the Naval Academy, he went to sea as Commander, Cruiser Division 6, in June 1934. Reporting to the General Board
General Board of the United States Navy
The General Board of the United States Navy was an advisory body of the United States Navy, effectively a naval general staff. The General Board was established by general order 544, issued on March 13, 1900 by John Davis Long. The order was officially recognized by Congress in 1916...

 after this tour of sea duty, Hart became its chairman in 1937.

With the temporary rank of admiral, Hart relieved classmate Admiral Harry E. Yarnell
Harry E. Yarnell
Admiral Harry Ervin Yarnell was an American naval officer whose career spanned 51 years and three wars, from the Spanish-American War through World War II.-Early life and Naval career:...

 as Commander-in-Chief, Asiatic Fleet
United States Asiatic Fleet
The United States Asiatic Fleet was part of the U.S. Navy. Preceding the World War II era, until 1942, the fleet protected the Philippines.Originally the Asiatic Squadron, it was upgraded to fleet status in 1902. In 1907, the fleet became the First Squadron of the Pacific Fleet. However, on 28...

 (CinCAF) on 25 July 1939. For the next two years, as tensions increased in the western Pacific, Hart prepared the small Asiatic Fleet for war with 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...

. He reduced the presence of his fleet in Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 waters and concentrated it in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

 to await the onslaught expected momentarily. He also successfully badgered Washington for reinforcements in the way of patrol planes and fleet submarines.

World War II

The Japanese 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...

, coupled with nearly simultaneous assaults on British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 possessions and the Philippines, catapulted the United States into 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...

. On 8 December 1941 Hart proclaimed unrestricted submarine warfare against Japan, and the Americans, with their Filipino allies, fought a delaying action in the Philippines, while a mixed American, British, Dutch, and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n (ABDA
American-British-Dutch-Australian Command
The American-British-Dutch-Australian Command, or ABDACOM, was a short-lived, supreme command for all Allied forces in South East Asia, in early 1942, during the Pacific War in World War II...

) military structure under the command of General Hein ter Poorten
Hein ter Poorten
Hein ter Poorten , was the commander of the Koninklijk Nederlands Indisch Leger in World War II...

 was set up to operate from Java in an attempt to hold the Japanese at the Malay Barrier.

Given command of ABDA naval forces, Hart directed part of this defense into mid-February 1942 when he was replaced, for political reasons, by Admiral Helfrich
Conrad Emil Lambert Helfrich
Luitenant-Admiraal Conrad Emil Lambert Helfrich, GNL, KCB of the Royal Netherlands Navy was a leading Dutch naval figure of World War II. He was born in Semarang....

 of the Dutch Navy. By that point, it had become evident that, despite the brave ABDA sailors, the Japanese were not to be denied.

He returned to the United States on 8 March 1942. President Roosevelt presented Hart with the Navy Gold Star in July 1942 for "His conduct of the operations of the Allied naval forces in the Southwest Pacific area during January and February, 1942, was characterized by unfailing judgment and sound decision, coupled with marked moral courage, in the face of discouraging surroundings and complex associations."

Retired List

Transferred to the retired list in July 1942 with the rank of Admiral, Hart nevertheless continued on active duty with the General Board through 1944.

From February to April 1944, he conducted a one-member investigation, the "Hart Inquiry," into the Pearl Harbor attack
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...

, a duty which took him to the length and breadth of the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 area. The purpose of the investigation was not to determine fault, but to ensure that the statute of limitations did not run out before courts-martial could be considered.

Political career and later years

On 9 February 1945, Hart retired from the Navy to fill an appointment as Republican senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 from Connecticut. He served in Congress until 5 November 1946 and did not seek reelection. Admiral Hart then returned to his family home in Sharon, Connecticut
Sharon, Connecticut
Sharon is a town located in Litchfield County, Connecticut, in the northwest corner of the state. It is bounded on the north by Salisbury, on the east by the Housatonic River, on the south by Kent, and on the west by Dutchess County, New York...

, and died there on 4 July 1971, aged 94.

Legacy

(1973–1993) was named in his honor. Originally classified as a destroyer escort
Destroyer escort
A destroyer escort is the classification for a smaller, lightly armed warship designed to be used to escort convoys of merchant marine ships, primarily of the United States Merchant Marine in World War II. It is employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also provides some protection...

, (DE-1092), it was reclassified as a frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

, (FF-1092), in 1975. The Naval Academy named its former library and current midshipmen lounge, The Hart Room, in his honor. Admiral Hart was also recognized by his high school alma mater, with his inclusion in the inaugural class of Davison High School's Alumni Hall of Fame.

See also


External links

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