DeWitt Clinton Ramsey


Admiral DeWitt Clinton Ramsey was a U.S. Navy officer and pioneer naval aviator who served as an aircraft carrier commander during World War II. His postwar assignments included command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and service as Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics in the Navy Department and as Vice Chief of Naval Operations.

Biography

Ramsey was born on October 2, 1888, at Whipple Barracks, near Prescott, Arizona, to Frank DeWitt Ramsey and Lillian Carlotta Zulick. He was the grandson of Arizona Territorial Governor C. Meyer Zulick. Upon graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy, Ramsey was commissioned an Ensign in June 1912. His Naval Academy classmates included future Admirals Daniel E. Barbey, Elliot Buckmaster, Louis E. Denfield, Charles A. Lockwood, Charles P. Mason, Alfred E. Montgomery, Mahlon Tisdale, Louis Wenzell, and Carleton F. Wright. He took Juanita as his wife. In 1917 he qualified as a naval aviator. During World War I, he was Inspection Officer for United States Naval Air Stations in France, and a member of the Inter-Allied Naval Armistice Commission.
During the interwar period, Ramsey served as a naval aviator on various naval staffs and ships. Reporting on board the aircraft carrier in 1938, he was her executive officer into 1939. Later that year, he headed BuAer's Plans Division, and in 1941 became Assistant Chief of BuAer.
During World War II, he commanded the Saratoga from May through September 1942, covering the landings on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on 7 August, and participating in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons later in the month. For his skillful use of airpower against Japanese naval forces in the Solomons, he was awarded the Navy Cross.
Promoted to Rear Admiral on September 27, 1942, he yielded command of Saratoga over to Capt. Gerald Bogan, and then rode the ship back to Pearl Harbor for repairs. In the Saratoga, he next commanded a task force that included a British carrier, HMS Victorious (R38).
Ramsey received the Navy Distinguished Service Medal as Chief of the U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics from August 6, 1943, to June 1, 1945, and a Gold Star as Vice Chief of Naval Operations from January 15, 1946, to January 3, 1948.
After commanding the Pacific Fleet, he served as Commissioner of Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, until retiring on 1 May 1949.
Admiral Ramsey died 7 September 1961, at Naval Hospital Philadelphia at the age of 72.