A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD.

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hispanicsin the

 united states navy

The opportunities afforded by the U.S. Navy to the diverse people of our country 

are not duplicated anywhere else on the planet. —Rear Admiral Albert Garcia III, 2010

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Hispanic Americans have stood not on the fringes 

of the service, but at its center, as makers of 

U.S. naval history. Among the first American naval 

heroes of Hispanic descent was Jorge Anthony Magin 

Farragut, born on Minorca, a Mediterranean island 

Opposite page: Seaman Miguel A. Vega waits pierside to assist the guided missile frigate USS Crommelin

(FFG 37) docking at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, after a cruise in the Pacific Ocean, April 2007.

Left: Aboard USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), Ship’s Surgeon Lt. Cmdr. Kathryn L. Berndt, right, prepares 

for surgery a 12-year-old girl injured in the earthquake that struck Haiti in January 2010. Dr. Berndt 

called in Dr. Sanjay Gupta, center, CNN medical correspondent and practicing neurosurgeon, to 

consult in the unusual case. On the left is Navy anesthesiologist Cmdr. Jerry Berman. The aircraft carrier and its air wing personnel provided humanitarian and disaster relief to earthquake victims under 

Operation Unified Response.

Hispanic Americans have served in the Navy throughout our nation’s 

history. They have been seamen, 4-star admirals, boatswain’s mates, 

corpsmen, fighter pilots, physicians, nuclear engineers, and policymakers.
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bird’s-eye view as his fleet fought past the booming guns 

of Fort Morgan at the bay’s entrance. When the skipper 

of Brooklyn, the lead ship in the column just ahead of

Hartford, reported a line of torpedoes (as mines were 

called then) across the channel, the column of ships 

began bunching up under the enemy guns. To maneuver 

around the torpedoes would expose the ships to the 

cannonade. To go forward would mean entering a 

minefield. To retreat was out of the question. “Damn the 

under Spanish rule. He fought in the South Carolina 

Navy during the Revolutionary War and served in the U.S. 

Navy during the War of 1812. Jorge Farragut’s son, David 

Glasgow Farragut, was America’s greatest naval officer of 

the 19th century and the Navy’s first full admiral. 

Best known for his daring maneuvers at Mobile Bay 

in August 1864, David Farragut was forced to make a 

crucial decision. Lashed in the rigging of the flagship 

Hartford’s mainmast high above the deck, Farragut had a 

Left: Sailing Master Jorge Farragut, c. 1800.

Center: Medal of Honor awarded to Seaman 

John Ortega, a U.S. Sailor born in Spain in 

1840, for gallantry during the Civil War.

Right: Rear Adm. David Farragut’s ships enter 

Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864.
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david G. farragut

Born on 5 July 1801 in eastern Tennessee, David Farragut spent 

his early youth living in the American frontier and speaking both 

English and Spanish. He entered the Navy in 1810 and spent 

much of the next half century at sea. During the Civil War he 

became a rear admiral when he was appointed to command a 

naval squadron in January 1862. By the end of 1864, he had 

captured New Orleans, then the South’s biggest city; participated 

in operations to seize control of the Mississippi River; enforced the 

blockade in the Gulf of Mexico; and won the battle of Mobile Bay, 

his most famous victory. To reward him for his achievements, 

Congress and the President in 1866 made him the country’s first 

full admiral—equivalent to a four-star admiral today.

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David G. Farragut, America’s first admiral, c. 1864.

“Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!”
torpedoes!” Farragut shouted. “Full speed ahead!” 

Hartford led the rest of the ships into Mobile Bay, and 

Farragut won a storied victory in American naval history. 

The Navy recognized his notable service by naming a 

modern-day ship after him, the guided missile destroyer 

USS Farragut (DDG 99), commissioned in June 2006.

During World War II an estimated quarter-million 

to a half-million Hispanic Americans served in the U.S. 

Armed Forces, making up about 2.5 to 5 percent of the 

total force. Many distinguished themselves in the Navy 

during the war. Submariner Marion Frederic Ramirez de 

Arellano, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate from Puerto 

Bottom left: Cmdr. (later Capt.) Ramirez de Arellano, 

right, receives the Silver Star—the fourth highest U.S. 

military decoration. In 1944 he was the first Hispanic commanding officer of a submarine, USS Balao

(SS 285), top. Later in the war he commanded a 

submarine division.

Right: Navy ace Eugene A. Valencia Jr. (see sidebar) 

flew an F6F Hellcat, like the one shown here, in 

World War II. 

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Rico, helped sink enemy ships while serving on three 

different submarines. He became the first Hispanic 

submarine skipper when he took command of USS Balao

(SS 285) on 18 April 1944. For his actions against the 

Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II, he received 

two Silver Stars, the Legion of Merit, and the Bronze Star. 

Hispanic American naval officers and enlisted men 

and women continued to serve with honor in the Korean 

and Vietnam wars as well as throughout the Cold War 

when the Navy defended sea lanes against a potential 

Soviet threat. During the 1970s the Navy developed an 

affirmative action plan that for the first time set 
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eugene A. valencia jr.

San Francisco native Eugene A. Valencia Jr. shot down 23 enemy 

aircraft in the Pacific during World War II, led the most successful 

fighter plane division in American naval history, and remains the 

Navy’s third-ranking ace of all time. Appointed Aviation Cadet on 

1 August 1941, Valencia got his baptism of fire flying a U.S. Navy 

Hellcat in October 1943 during strikes against Japanese forces on 

Wake Island and at Tarawa Atoll. After several dogfights with the 

enemy aircraft, he spotted a weakness in their gunnery. Returning 

stateside for training, he developed a tactic nicknamed the “mowing 

machine” to exploit this weakness. When Fighter Squadron 9 

redeployed to the Pacific in 1945, Valencia and his four-plane 

division tallied 43 of the squadron’s 130 victories. That year he 

received the Navy Cross for his outstanding service.

“I love [the Hellcat] so much, that if [I could], 

I’d marry it.”

Lt. Eugene Valencia Jr., c. 1944.
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recruiting goals for people of “Spanish heritage.” In 

1979 Edward Hidalgo became the first Hispanic 

Secretary of the Navy and made recruiting more Latinos 

and Latinas, especially as officers, a top priority. At first, 

the Navy set the recruiting goal for Hispanic officers at 

a figure reflecting the proportion of Latinos and Latinas 

with college degrees. In July 1994 the Secretary of the 

Navy launched an initiative seeking to achieve a naval 

officer corps that reflected the proportion of Hispanic 

people in the United States. This has been the Navy’s 

goal ever since. As of June 2010, 6.2 percent of officers 

and 17.2 percent of enlisted men and women in the 

Navy were of Hispanic ethnicity.

Top: U.S. Naval Academy graduate Marine 1st Lt. 

Baldomero Lopez, shown leading his platoon over 

the seawall at Inchon, Korea, in September 1950, 

received the Medal of Honor posthumously for his 

heroic actions there. 

Left: Edward Hidalgo, the first Hispanic Secretary 

of the Navy, served from 1979 to 1981 during the 

Carter administration.

Right: Lt. Al Cisneros was the first Latino pilot 

to serve with the Blue Angels, the Navy’s flight 

demonstration squadron.
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horacio rivero jr.

Horacio Rivero Jr. was known for his keen intellect, leadership, and 

contributions in developing nuclear weapons. Born in Puerto Rico, 

Rivero graduated third among the 441 members of the U.S. Naval 

Academy class of 1931. Recognizing his intellect, the Navy sent Rivero 

to graduate school, first to the Naval Postgraduate School and then to 

the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned a master 

of science degree in electrical engineering. Rivero spent most of 

World War II on board cruisers, serving in many of the most significant 

battles in the Pacific. 

“[Naval War College provided me] the 

opportunity to meet and make friends with 

a lot of people from the Army, the Air Force, 

State Department, CIA, Treasury, and so 

forth. . . . And we had the cream of the Navy 

going into it.”

Adm. Horacio Rivero Jr., Vice Chief of Naval Operations and the first Latino full admiral of the 

20th century, takes a ride on a Swift boat off Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam, July 1966.

continued on page 8
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Witness the success of a handful of 

many firsts for Hispanics. 

•The first four Latinas graduated from 

the U.S. Naval Academy in 1981: Lilia 

Ramirez of Bayshore, New York; 

Carmel Gilliland of Albuquerque, New 

Mexico; Trinora Pinto of Louisville, 

Kentucky; and Ina Gomez of Grand 

Junction, Colorado.

•Before retiring from the Navy in 1996, 

Rear Admiral Marc Y. E. Pelaez, Chief 

of Naval Research, managed the Navy 

and Marine Corps’ science and 

technology programs. With an annual 

budget of $1.5 billion, his command 

Rear Adm. Marc Y. E. Pelaez, Chief of 

Naval Research from 1993 to 1996.

As a pioneer in nuclear weapons development after the war, 

Rivero became a charter member in the Navy Department’s Atomic 

Operations Division. This assignment put him on the cutting edge of 

the era’s highest technology. In 1946 he participated in Operation 

Crossroads, the atomic bomb tests on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, and 

two years later he participated in similar tests in Eniwetok. In March 

1949 he became one of the original members of the Weapons 

Systems Evaluation Group, Office of the Secretary of Defense. On 3 

October 1955 the Navy promoted him to rear admiral and assigned 

him duty working on hydrogen bombs. 

During the 1950s and 1960s Rivero began his climb to the Navy’s 

top echelons, serving in a variety of staff and command positions. 

Highlights include a tour with the Atlantic Fleet staff and a stint as 

Director of Navy Program Planning in the Office of the Chief of Naval 

Operations, where he laid the groundwork for the building of the Nimitzclass aircraft carriers. Promoted to full admiral in 1964, he served 

as Vice Chief of Naval Operations and later became Commander in 

Chief of Allied Forces, Southern Europe. Had the Cold War turned 

hot and war broken out, Admiral Rivero would have commanded a 

million service men and women from five countries. Rivero remained 

in command of NATO’s Southern Forces until his retirement on 1 June 

1972 after 41 years of service.

continued from page 7
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“The Navy has given me the opportunity 

to excel in ways in which I had only 

dreamed about.”

kathryn berndt

Raised in Texas, Kathryn Berndt graduated from Harvard University 

with a degree in psychology. But what she really wanted to do was to 

practice medicine. She concluded that a Navy scholarship program 

would provide the most economical route to her goal. After earning 

her M.D. at Tufts University, she was promoted to lieutenant and 

entered active duty service. Dr. Berndt has since served as Medical 

Department head on the amphibious ship USS Ogden (LPD 5) and 

completed her general surgery residency at Naval Medical Center 

San Diego. “The Navy has given me the opportunity to excel in ways 

in which I had only dreamed about,” she said. “To become a doctor, 

to become a surgeon, and to have a wonderful family.” Dr. Berndt, 

now a lieutenant commander, serves as the ship’s surgeon on board 

the carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) and was also the surgeon 

on USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) when the ship responded to the 

earthquake in Haiti in January 2010.

Dr. Kathryn Berndt on board USS Carl Vinson off the coast of Haiti in January 2010.

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included the Office of Naval Research, the Naval 

Research Laboratory, and foreign field offices in London 

and Tokyo.

•In 1997 Marine Lieutenant Colonel Carlos I. Noriega 

logged 221 hours in space during NASA’s sixth space 

shuttle mission to dock with the Russian Space 

Station Mir. 

•In 2001 President George W. Bush appointed William 

A. Navas as Assistant Secretary of the Navy for 

Manpower and Reserve Affairs. A native of Puerto Rico 

and a decorated combat veteran of the Vietnam War, 

Navas also held the rank of Major General in the Army 

and the position of Director of the Army National Guard.

•In 2003 the Puerto Rico Medical Society named 

Navy surgeon Commander Miguel A. Cubano 

Physician of the Year.

Clockwise from top left: Marine Lt. Col. Carlos I. Noriega, a mission specialist 

on Space Shuttle Atlantis mission STS-84, suits up during final prelaunch 

preparations at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., 1997; Cmdrs. Miguel A. Cubano 

and Eliseo E. Bautista, Navy surgeons, operate on a patient at Naval Hospital 

Jacksonville, Fla., September 2003; Capt. Kathlene Contres, with Represen-

tative Grace Napolitano (D-CA), receives a leadership award from Latina

Style magazine, September 2005; Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England 

presents the Navy Cross to Hospitalman Apprentice Luis E. Fonseca Jr., who 

saved the lives of several wounded Marines during the 2003 battle of 

An Nasiriyah, Iraq.
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•As a result of extraordinary heroism while serving with 

the Marines during the battle of An Nasiriyah, Iraq, in 

March 2003, Hospitalman Apprentice Luis E. Fonseca 

Jr. received the Navy Cross, the highest medal the 

Department of the Navy can award and the second 

highest medal for valor after the Medal of Honor.

•Captain Kathlene Contres was the Navy’s highest 

ranking female Hispanic active duty line officer 

when she became Commandant of the Defense 

Equal Opportunity Management Institute in March 

2005. Educating more than 1,200 students per 

Left to right: Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy 

Joe R. Campa Jr. speaks with Sailors at Bagram 

Air Force Base, Afghanistan, 2008; the guided 

missile frigate USS Curts (FFG 38) deployed to the 

North Arabian Sea in 2008 under commanding 

officer Yvette Davids, the first Latina to command 

a warship; Cmdr. Davids, as the military executive 

assistant to the executive director of Naval Surface 

Forces, presents a certificate of commendation 

to Cadet Seaman Emmarow Taledo, an honors 

freshman in the Navy Junior Reserve Officer 

Training Corps at Junipero Serra High School in 

San Diego, Calif., April 2009. 

year, the Institute is the Defense Department’s 

center of excellence for equal opportunity, equal 

employment opportunity, and human relations 

education, training, and research.

•In July 2006 Joe R. Campa Jr. became the first 

Hispanic Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, 

the service’s top-ranking enlisted person.

•U.S. Naval Academy graduate Commander Yvette 

Davids, the first Latina commanding officer of a 

surface combatant ship, assumed command of the

guided missile frigate USS Curts (FFG 38) in 2007.
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These few examples represent a fraction of Hispanic 

success stories in America’s Navy. Hispanic Americans 

have served in nearly every position the service has to 

offer, whether at sea, under the sea, in the air, on land, 

or in space. In the foreseeable future there will be no 

more “firsts,” for the day will come when a Latino or 

Latina will have served in every Navy billet.

In the 21st century the Navy’s leadership remains 

strongly committed to diversity. Chief of Naval 

Operations Admiral Gary Roughead declared that the 

Navy “must embrace the demographic changes of 

tomorrow, and build a Navy that always reflects our 

country’s makeup.”

A person who is motivated and hardworking, and 

has the honor, courage, and commitment to serve, can 

achieve his or her dreams, regardless of race, creed, 

color, or ethnic origin. 

Clockwise from top left: Seabee Rosa Medina prepares for a field training exercise at Camp 

Hansen in Okinawa, Japan, April 2007; Chief Warrant Officer Armando Garcia and his son, 

Corporal Armando Garcia, on the flight deck of USS Denver (LPD 9) are both deployed with 

the Marines in the western Pacific, July 2002; Yeoman 2nd Class Adrianna Mueller helps 

prepare Lt.j.g. Leticia Soto for the Seabee Combat Warfare Specialist test, April 2004; Aviation Maintenance Administrationman 2nd Class Jesus Lopez signals an OK to supervisors 

during diving proficiency training, February 2005; Lt. Alejandro Hernandez signals for an 

F/A-18C Hornet to launch from the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) 

steaming in the Red Sea, May 2007; Aviation Electronics Technician Airman William Vasquez 

removes an instrument landing system receiver from an F/A-18F Super Hornet aboard the 

aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) in the Gulf of Oman, January 2009.
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Clockwise from top left: Rear Adm. Albert Garcia III, the deputy commander of 

the First Naval Construction Division, talks to Ana Mejia of Azteca America TV 

during a Cinco de Mayo festival in Denver, Colo., May 2008; U.S. Navy Hospital-

man Garret Castro interviews a patient at a field hospital in Shinkiari, Pakistan, 

during humanitarian assistance to victims of an earthquake that devastated the 

region on 8 October 2005; Seabee Eduardo Riveragonzalez fires a machine gun 

down range during weapons qualifications in central Iraq, April 2004; Damage 

Controlman 3rd Class Matthew Villafuerte, member of a visit, board, search and 

seizure team, secures a machine gun to its mount on a rigid-hull inflatable boat 

being lowered from the guided missile frigate USS Ingraham (FFG 61) into the 

Arabian Gulf, February 2008; Command Master Chief Michael R. Ruiz serves 

in Iraq with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, December 2008; Aviation 

Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) 3rd Class Gerson Gonzalez signals to an MH-60 

helicopter during a vertical replenishment aboard the amphibious transport 

dock USS Cleveland (LPD 7) in the Arabian Gulf, February 2008. 

Photo credits: Latina Style, Naval History & Heritage Command, NAVY.mil.

Front cover: Quartermaster 2nd Class Carolina Castanon makes her rounds 

in Naval Support Activity Bahrain’s Harbor Patrol Unit, September 2003. 

Castanon helped maintain round-the-clock watches protecting the personnel 

stationed in Bahrain.
Navy Diversity Directorate (N134)

Chief of Naval Personnel

www.npc.navy.mil/CommandSupport/Diversity

www.history.navy.mil

A GLOBAL FORCE FOR GOOD.

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