page_title: Richard G. Colbert
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Richard G. Colbert / Early career / World War II
caption_attribution_description: English: The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Meade (DD-602) off New York City, 20 June 1942, probably during her delivery voyage from the Bethlehem Steel Company shipyard at Staten Island. The ship, which is flying her builder's flag, was commissioned two days later. Note that no radars are fitted, yet, and her Measure 12 (Modified) pattern camouflage. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.
context_page_description: Richard Gary Colbert was a four-star admiral in the United States Navy who served as President of the Naval War College from 1968 to 1971, and as commander in chief of all NATO forces in southern Europe from 1972 to 1973. He was nicknamed "Mr. International Navy" as one of the very few senior admirals in the U.S. Navy identified with international naval cooperation during the Cold War.
context_section_description: Commissioned ensign, he served aboard the aircraft carrier Yorktown from its commissioning on September 30, 1937, until 1939, when he was assigned to the destroyer Barker in the Asiatic Fleet. He remained aboard Barker for the next five years, rising from junior ensign to lieutenant commander and commanding officer.
  Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Barker operated with the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM) in Southeast Asian and Australian waters until May 1942, then escorted convoys between San Francisco, California, and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii until May 1943, when the destroyer transferred to the Atlantic Fleet to join Task Group 21.12, a hunter-killer group centered on the escort carrier Core.
  In 1944, he assumed command of the destroyer Meade, operating with the Pacific Fleet. After the war, Meade was sent on a relief sweep along Tonkin Gulf coastal areas to assist French forces in combating Chinese pirates off Haiphong. Promoted to commander, Colbert spent the next two and a half years as personnel planning officer in the Bureau of Naval Personnel, where he helped plan the postwar naval reserve and served as a social aide in the White House.
caption: USS Meade (DD-602)
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