Frank H . Brumby Frank Hardeman Brumby ( September 11 , 1874 – July 16 , 1950 ) was a four - star admiral in the United States Navy who commanded the Battle Force of the United States Fleet from 1934 to 1935 . Early career . Born in Athens , Georgia to Belle Hardeman Brumby and former Confederate States Army officer John Wallis Brumby , he was appointed from the state of Georgia to the United States Naval Academy in 1891 . Graduating 3rd of 45 in the class of 1895 , he served the required two years of sea duty as a passed midshipman before being commissioned ensign on July 1 , 1897 . During the Spanish - American War , he was a junior officer aboard the armored cruiser " New York " , flagship of Rear Admiral William T . Sampson ' s squadron at the Battle of Santiago de Cuba , and later served during the Philippine Insurrection . His first command was the protected cruiser " Cincinnati " , which he received shortly before the United States ' entry into World War I , during which he was promoted to the temporary rank of captain . After the war , he commanded the battleship " Kansas " from 1920 to 1921 and the battleship " New Mexico " from 1924 to 1926 , before being promoted to rear admiral and assigned as Commander Control Force , United States Fleet and Commander Submarine Divisions , Control Force . S - 4 court of inquiry . On December 17 , 1927 , the United States Coast Guard destroyer " Paulding " accidentally rammed and sank the Control Force submarine " S - 4 " off Provincetown , Massachusetts . Brumby took charge of the rescue effort , assisted by Captain Ernest J . King , who had recently commanded the salvage operation for the sunken submarine " S - 51 " . As the weather worsened , the submarine tender " Falcon " attempted to attach air hoses to the sunken submarine to force it to the surface by filling its ballast tanks , or at least supply air to the six surviving crewmen , but to no avail . Finally , Brumby had to order " Falcon " into Provincetown Harbor to ride out the winter storm , which lasted days . The trapped crewmen died of suffocation . Newspaper reporters flocked to Provincetown to cover the disaster as it unfolded . Brumby was swamped by letters and telegrams , all of which he answered conscientiously , although some were so abusive that King advised him to ignore them . Months later , King still refused to shake hands with a particular reporter ; told of King ' s snub , Brumby exclaimed , " Why , King , if I had known it was that son - of - a - bitch , I would not have shaken hands with him either . " To investigate the sinking and failed rescue operation , the Navy convened a court of inquiry presided over by Rear Admiral Richard H . Jackson . Under questioning , Brumby appeared to be technically uninformed about the details of the rescue operation : " I just can ' t be positive about such things . I just can ' t remember . Ask the technical people . . . I am not familiar with the details of the construction of submarines , but those who were there thought the steps being taken were the proper ones . . . Well , I don ' t really know . I can ' t answer that question . My impression is the divers did all they could do . As to details I can ' t tell you . You ' ll have to ask the technical men . " The court concluded that while the rescue plans Brumby approved and supervised " were logical , intelligent , and were diligently executed with good judgment and the greatest possible expedition , " Brumby himself had demonstrated he was unfit to command the Control Force and should be removed . " He had not the familiarity with the essential details of construction of submarines and the knowledge of rescue vessels , and the knowledge of the actual work being carried on by his subordinates necessary to direct intelligently the important operations of which he was in charge . " Professing puzzlement that the court could praise the rescue operation but condemn its commander , Secretary of the Navy Curtis D . Wilbur rejected its recommendation to remove Brumby and asked that the court reconsider Brumby ' s performance in more detail . Brumby redescribed his actions and Wilbur found them to be entirely " commendable , " concluding that Brumby had properly consulted his technical experts and followed their consensus . Furthermore , Wilbur felt that Brumby ' s exemplary 31 - year service record outshone whatever " errors or oversight or failures " could be inferred from his testimony . Fleet command . After completing his normal tour as commander of the Control Force on November 6 , 1928 , Brumby served as president of the Board of Inspection and Survey from November 1928 to June 1929 and as commandant of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard from May 31 , 1930 to September 28 , 1932 , before returning to sea as commander of Battleship Division 1 , Battle Force , United States Fleet . In May 1933 , he was selected to succeed Vice Admiral Frank Hodges Clark as Commander Scouting Force , United States Fleet ( COMSCTGFOR ) , and was advanced to the temporary rank of vice admiral for the duration of his tour , which lasted from May 20 , 1933 to June 14 , 1934 . The highlight of his tour was Exercise M , a phase of the annual fleet maneuvers that studied control of the Caribbean Sea . Brumby commanded the Grey Fleet , assigned to defend against an amphibious assault by the Blue force commanded by Admiral Joseph M . Reeves , whose objective was to take one or all of Ponce , San Juan , Culebra and St . Thomas , and who finally succeeded in landing Marines on Culebra on the fifth and last day of the exercise . In 1934 , Reeves was elevated to Commander in Chief , United States Fleet ( CINCUS ) , and Brumby succeeded him as Commander Battle Force , United States Fleet ( COMBATFOR ) with the temporary rank of admiral on June 15 , 1934 . Fleet commands rotated every year and it was common for COMBATFOR to be promoted to CINCUS , as Reeves had been , but when Brumby ' s year as COMBATFOR was up , Reeves was reappointed to a second year as CINCUS , so Brumby relinquished command of the Battle Force to Admiral Harris Laning on April 1 , 1935 and returned to shore in his permanent rank of rear admiral . His last assignment was as commandant of the Fifth Naval District and the Naval Operating Base at Norfolk , which he commanded from April 8 , 1935 to September 30 , 1938 before retiring on October 1 , 1938 after forty - five years of service . He was advanced to the rank of admiral on the retired list on June 16 , 1942 by new legislation that allowed officers to retire in the highest active - duty rank in which they had served . Personal life . In retirement , he resided in Norfolk , Virginia . He died at the age of 75 at the Norfolk Naval Hospital in Portsmouth , Virginia after a two - week illness attributed to complications following an operation . He married the former Isabelle Truxtun on June 4 , 1907 , and they had two children , Isabelle Truxtun Brumby Fitzgerald and Navy officer Frank Hardeman Brumby , Jr . An uncle , Lieutenant Thomas Mason Brumby , was flag lieutenant to Rear Admiral George Dewey during the Spanish - American War . Namesake and honors . He is the namesake of the destroyer escort " Brumby " , launched in 1963 and co - sponsored by two granddaughters . The Brumby Bowl , the annual golf championship tournament of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard Golf Association , is also named for him , as the shipyard commandant when the tournament began in 1931 .