His 23 years at sea during his 37-year naval career included 15 years in command of destroyers, destroyer divisions and squadrons and three U.S. fleets in the Atlantic, Pacific and Mediterranean; he also served as executive assistant and senior aide to the Chief of Naval Operations in the early 1960s, earning citations for his efforts in the Cuban Missile Crisis and several other crises. In 1967, he headed the court of inquiry into the USS "Liberty" incident during the Six-Day War in June of that year. "Sacrificing Liberty Docuseries" released in 2020 portrays Kidd's role in the cover up of that attack in episode III. From 1975 to 1978, Kidd served as Commander in Chief of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet.