Skip to main content
Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

The Navy Department Library

Tags
Related Content
Sources

Adapted from "Captain John K. Batchellor, Civil Engineer Corps, United States Navy. Deceased" [biography, dated 30 November 1966] in Modern Biographical Files collection, Navy Department Library.

Topic
  • Logistics
  • Maintenance-Repairs
  • Ship Construction & Design
Document Type
  • Biography
Wars & Conflicts
  • World War II 1939-1945
File Formats
Location of Archival Materials
  • NHHC-Library

John Kenneth Batchellor

2 June 1906-4 February 1981

Upload PDF Version [364KB]

John Kenneth Batchellor was born in Orleans County, New York, on June 2, 1906, son of Homer George and Lucy B. (Andrews) Batchellor.  He attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, and was graduated with the degree of Civil Engineer in 1929 and the degree of Master of Civil Engineering in 1933.  He was commissioned Lieutenant (junior grade) in the Civil Engineer Corps of the US Naval Reserve on July 27, 1936, and through subsequent advancement and his transfer to the US Navy, attained the rank of Captain, CEC, to date from July 1, 1956.

Called to active duty, he served from September 8, 1941, to September 1943 as Field Officer in Charge of Contract Construction in the District Public Works Office, Sixth Naval District, at the Naval Base, Charleston, South Carolina.  He remained in Charleston the next three months as Public Works Officer at the Naval Air Station, then during January and February 1944 attended the CEC Officers Training School at Camp Peary and the Naval Operating Base, Norfolk, Virginia.

During the latter period of World War II he was assigned to the Bureau of Yards and Docks and the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, in the Navy Department, Washington, DC.  There he was Associate Member of the Joint Logistics Plans Committee, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Assistant Planning Section Head in the Bureau of Yards and Docks.  Detached in December 1946, he had six months’ duty at Okinawa, R.I., as Officer in Charge of Construction, Battalion Maintenance Unit 630, and as Public Works Officers on the Staff of the Commander, Naval Base.

From June 1947 until December 1948 he served as Assistant Base Development Officer (also Acting Base Development Officer) and Planning and Design Superintendent on the Staff of Commander Marianas, at Headquarters on Guam.  When detached from duty in the Marianas Islands, he was ordered to Crane, Indiana, where he served as Public Works Officer and Resident Officer in Charge of Construction at the Naval Ammunition Depot.  In September 1951 he was transferred to Chincoteague, Virginia, for a tour of similar duty at the Naval Auxiliary Air Station and Naval Air Ordnance Test Station.

In July 1953 he returned to Charleston, South Carolina, for duty as Deputy District Public Works Officer, Sixth Naval District, and also as Deputy Officer in Charge of Construction for that District.  He remained there until June 1956, then became District Public Works Officer, Fifteenth Naval District, Fort Amador, Canal Zone; Officer in Charge of Construction; and District Civil Engineer.  In August 1958, he was detached for duty in the Office of Naval Research, Navy Department and in June 1962 reported as Public Works Officer at the Fleet Activity, Yokosuka, Japan.

He was Commanding Officer of the Naval Public Works Center, Yokosuka, Japan, from July to October 1965, then was assigned to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC.  In February 1966 he reported as Director of the Facilities Division, Office of Naval Material (later Naval Material Command Headquarters), Navy Department.  He served in that capacity until October 1966, when he became Public Works Officer, Naval Station, Washington, DC.

Captain Batchellor has the American Defense Service Medal; the American Campaign Medal; World War II Victory Medal; and the National Defense Service Medal.

Captain Batchellor is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Society of American Military Engineers, National Society of Professional Engineers and Newsomen Society.  He is a Registered Professional Engineer in Texas, and is active in athletics (football, baseball, golf, and tennis).

END

Published: Fri Mar 05 08:12:54 EST 2021