Skip to main content
Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

Tags
Related Content
Sources

Adapted from "Vice Admiral Albert W. Grant, United States Navy, Deceased" [biography 20 May 1957],  in Modern Officer Biographies Collection, Naval History and Heritage Command Archives, Washington Navy Yard.

Topic
Document Type
  • Biography
Wars & Conflicts
File Formats
Location of Archival Materials

Albert Weston Grant 

14 April 1856-30 September 1930 

Albert Weston Grant was born on April 14, 1856, in East Benton, Maine, and died September 30, 1930, at the Naval Hospital, League Island, Pennsylvania.

He was appointed Cadet Midshipmen from Wisconsin, June 10, 1873, and commissioned Ensign, May 17, 1881.  He was commissioned Lieutenant, May 9, 1893; Lieutenant Commander, July 1, 1900; Commander, July 1, 1905; Captain, July 1, 1909; Rear Admiral, September 7, 1915, and Vice Admiral (posthumously) on the Retired List, September 30, 1930.

As a Lieutenant, he was assigned to the Mare Island Navy Yard, where he was in charge of the installation of the electrical plants in the USS Charleston in 1889 and the USS San Francisco in 1890.

During the Spanish-American War, he was on board the USS Massachusetts and participated in the Battle of Santiago, Cuba.  In September 1898 he was attached to the Machias and in 1900 was ordered to duty at the Naval Academy.  In 1902, he was Executive Officer of the Oregon and in July 1903 was in command of the Frolic.  He returned to the Naval Academy for duty in 1905.

After completing the War College course in October 1907, he was given command of the Arethusa.  He was Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Atlantic Fleet on the flagship Connecticut, on the cruise around the world in 1908 and 1909, and was later in commander of the Connecticut.  In 1910 he was Commandant of the Fourth Naval District and the Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

He commanded the Atlantic Reserve Fleet from November 12, 1912 to January 31, 1913, and in February of that year was given additional duty as Supervisor of the Third, Fourth and Fifth Naval Districts.  In July 1913 he was assigned to the Newport News (Virginia) Shipbuilding Company for duty in connection with the completion of the Texas and assumed command when she was commissioned, March 12, 1914.  

On June 3, 1915 he was appointed Commander Submarine Force, Atlantic Fleet, and in July 1917 was given command of the Battleship Force ONE, Atlantic Fleet, with the rank of Vice Admiral.  He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal and cited as follows: “For exceptionally meritorious service in a duty of great responsibility as Commander of Battleship Force ONE, Atlantic Fleet, and further for the efficient manner in which he commanded the Atlantic Fleet in the western Atlantic in the absence of the Commander-in-Chief during September, October, November, and December 1918.”

In March 1919, he was appointed Commandant of the Washington Navy Yard and Superintendent of the Navy Gun Factory, reporting for duty in his permanent rank of Rear Admiral. He retired on April 14, 1920, upon reaching that statutory retiring age of sixty-four years.

[END] 

Published: Wed Sep 14 14:52:22 EDT 2016