Richard H . Jackson Richard Harrison Jackson ( May 10 , 1866 - October 2 , 1971 ) was a four - star admiral in the United States Navy . Originally cashiered from the Navy for poor grades at the U . S . Naval Academy , he was commissioned ensign by special act of Congress for his heroism during the 1889 Apia cyclone . He served as commander in chief of the Battle Fleet in 1926 and lived to be 105 years old . Early life . He was born on a plantation near Tuscumbia , Alabama , the youngest of seven children of George Moore Jackson and Sarah Cabell Perkins , and was appointed by Alabama Congressman Joseph Wheeler to the U . S . Naval Academy , which he entered on June 4 , 1883 . Jackson graduated from the Academy in 1887 and was immediately sent to sea as a passed cadet , first aboard the protected cruiser " Boston " , then aboard the wooden - hulled screw steamer " Trenton " . In those days , Academy graduates were required to complete two years of satisfactory sea duty before being awarded an ensign ' s commission . However , due to an 1882 statute limiting the number of available naval commissions , there were not enough vacancies in the service to retain all of the Academy ' s graduates . Jackson ' s poor grades placed him near the bottom of his graduating class , so he was to be cashiered from the Navy upon completing his sea duty . While awaiting his discharge , Jackson was serving aboard " Trenton " in Samoa when it was wrecked by the 1889 Apia cyclone on March 16 , 1889 . As the ship had been caught with no steam in its boilers , crewmen were ordered to form a line along the deck and spread their coats to form a makeshift sail . Jackson led a group of sailors into the rigging where they spread their coats to increase the sail area , at significant hazard to their lives . This desperate measure successfully propelled " Trenton " out of danger long enough to help rescue the ship ' s company of the similarly wrecked " Vandalia " , before both crews were compelled to abandon ship . On returning to the Naval Academy , Jackson passed his final examinations but fell just below the grade cutoff and was second on the list of cadets denied a commission and honorably discharged . In the hopes of becoming a naval surgeon , he and several of his Academy classmates studied medicine at the University of Virginia , where Jackson was a member of Beta Theta Pi and graduated fourth in the medical class of 1890 . Meanwhile , word of Jackson ' s heroics at Apia had reached Congress , which was spurred to act by testimonials from " Trenton " ' s commanding officer , Captain Norman von Heldreich Farquhar , and Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F . Tracy . On September 26 , 1890 , Congress passed special legislation authorizing the President to appoint one additional ensign in the United States Navy . The final statute noted that Jackson had behaved " with conspicuous gallantry by leading the men into the mizzen rigging to form a sail , when this position in the rigging was one of great danger , as the mast was liable to be carried away and fall overboard when the ship struck , and did thereby contribute largely to the success of the maneuver which the captain of the " Trenton " , in his official report to the admiral , says saved the lives of four hundred men from certain destruction . " Naval career . Having received his commission , Jackson served as assistant inspector of ordnance and then inspector of ordnance at the Midvale Steel Works , then drew sea duty aboard the torpedo boat " Cushing " and monitor " Puritan " . In 1897 , he married the daughter of Rear Admiral William T . Sampson , who would achieve fame a year later at the Battle of Santiago Bay . He won the annual essay contest administered by the United States Naval Institute in 1900 . He served aboard the torpedo boat " Foote " during the Spanish - American War , followed by duty aboard the torpedo boat " Gwin " and three years with the gunboat " Nashville " . In 1903 he returned to the Naval Academy as an instructor in the Department of English and Law , concluding his tour in 1905 by commanding the protected cruiser " Atlanta " during midshipman training missions . He was navigator of the armored cruiser " Colorado " from 1905 to 1907 and executive officer from 1907 to 1908 . From 1908 to 1910 , he was in charge of the Naval Proving Ground at Indian Head , Maryland . In 1910 he sailed to the Far East for shore duty at Naval Station Cavite . In 1911 he went to sea as commanding officer of the protected cruiser , then as commanding officer of the gunboat " Helena " , in which role he also served as senior officer in command of the gunboats of the Yangtze River Patrol during the Chinese Revolution . He returned to the United States in 1912 for another tour at the Naval Academy , followed by duty with the General Board from 1913 to 1915 and command of the battleship " Virginia " in 1915 . In June 1917 , following the United States entry into World War I , he was dispatched to Paris as special representative from the Navy Department to the French Ministry of Marine , then served as naval attaché in Paris until after the Armistice in November 1918 , when he returned to the United States to report to the Office of Naval Intelligence . In 1919 , as senior officer for the U . S . Naval Forces in Bermuda , he commanded the Azores detachment of the Atlantic Fleet that stood guard for the Navy flying boat NC - 4 on its historic first trans - Atlantic crossing by an aircraft . Flag officer . Promoted to rear admiral in 1921 , he served as a member of the General Board before being sent to sea in 1922 as commander of Battleship Division Three , Battleship Divisions , Battle Fleet . He was assistant chief of naval operations from 1923 to 1925 . On October 5 , 1925 , he was promoted to the temporary rank of vice admiral as Commander Battleship Divisions , Battle Fleet . The following year , he " fleeted up " to Commander in Chief , Battle Fleet , relieving Admiral Charles F . Hughes on September 4 , 1926 and advancing to the temporary rank of full admiral . His tour as Battle Fleet commander was marked by innovations in naval air tactics , including the invention of divebombing , under Jackson ' s subordinate , Captain Joseph M . Reeves , commanding officer of the aircraft carrier " Langley " ; and by Fleet Problem VII , the annual fleet exercise , whose highlight was " Langley " ' s successful air raid on the Panama Canal . Completing his tour as Battle Fleet commander on September 10 , 1927 , Jackson was relieved by Admiral Louis R . de Steiguer and reverted to his permanent rank of rear admiral and shore duty as a member of the General Board . In December , he was appointed to head the court of inquiry into the sinking of the submarine S - 4 . He remained on the General Board until he retired in 1930 upon reaching the statutory age of 64 . In retirement , Jackson resided in Pearl City , Hawaii , where , on December 7 , 1941 , he observed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor from his front doorstep . His eye - witness account was enclosed in the official after action report sent to the Navy Department by Admiral Chester W . Nimitz on February 15 , 1942 . In July 1942 , Jackson was advanced to admiral on the retired list by a new law that allowed each officer to retire in the highest rank in which he had served . Personal life . He married the former Catherine Sampson in 1897 ; she died in 1924 . Toward the end of his life , he lived in a two - story house across from a golf course in Coronado , California , attended by an aide and housekeeper . He died of cardiac failure while being treated for a hip fracture at Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego , California at the age of 105 . At the time of his death , he was the oldest military officer in the United States . He was a tenth - generation descendant of Pocahontas and a third cousin of Air Force four - star general Charles P . Cabell . His decorations include the Navy Cross , awarded for distinguished service as naval attaché and liaison officer in Paris during World War I . In 1898 , he took honorable mention in the annual essay contest administered by the United States Naval Institute . He won the top prize in 1900 with the topic of " Torpedo Craft , Types and Employment " , earning a gold medal , life membership in the Naval Institute , and $ 100 in cash .