Lucien Young Lucien Young ( 31 March 1852 – 2 October 1912 ) was an admiral of the United States Navy . His active - duty career included service in the Spanish – American War . Early life and career . Young was born in Lexington , Kentucky , on 31 March 1852 . He was appointed a midshipman on 21 June 1869 and served in the practice ships , , and before graduating from the United States Naval Academy on 31 May 1873 . Ordered to on 23 July 1873 , Young , as a passed midshipman , was commended for extraordinary heroism when he saved the life of a seaman who had been knocked overboard . Young was detached from " Alaska " at Lisbon , Portugal , and soon joined . Commissioned as ensign on 16 July 1874 , he joined — on the North Atlantic Station — on 10 December of the following year . Wreck of the USS " Huron " . Subsequently ordered to , he served in that ship until her tragic grounding off Nags Head , N . C . , on 24 November 1877 . The ship , en route to Cuban waters for survey duty , foundered shortly after 01 : 00 on the 24th . Ensign Young and an enlisted man — Seaman Antonio Williams — struggled ashore through the tumbling surf and gained the beach . Not receiving much assistance from an apparently apathetic group of bystanders , Young sent a horseman off at a gallop for a life - saving depot seven miles away while he , himself , although bruised and barefoot , walked four miles to yet another station , and , apparently finding it unmanned , broke in and got out mortar lines and powder for a Lyle gun . The sheriff of the locality then took Williams and Young to a point abreast the wreck . By the time they arrived , however , the 34 survivors had already reached shore . For his indefatigable efforts , Young received a commendation from the Secretary of the Navy ; was awarded a gold medal by act of Congress from the Life - Saving service of the United States ; was made an honorary member of the $ 3 ; and received advancement to the rate of master . Sea and shore - based assignments , 1870s - 1880s . Ordered to on 17 March 1878 , he arrived in Le Havre , France , in time to take charge of a detail of men to serve at the Universal Exposition in Paris , France . Following that duty , he served in " Portsmouth " with the Training Squadron until he was detached from that ship on 5 April 1880 . Young ' s next tour of duty was ashore , in the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting ; and , while there , he served for a time as naval aide to the Secretary of the Navy . Master Young then served successive tours of sea duty in the monitor and the training ship . Next came service as executive officer of and , finally , a tour holding the same office in . While in the latter , Young took part in the landings in Panama to protect American interests in the spring of 1885 . A series of assignments ashore followed : Naval Torpedo Station , Newport , R . I . ; at the Naval War College at Newport ; at the Bureau of Navigation , and at the office of Naval War Records — the activity then compiling the monumental documentary collection , the " Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies " . Young next returned to sea , serving successive tours in , , , and . Spanish – American War . Given command of , Lieutenant Young placed that ship in commission and , during the Spanish – American War , took part in two engagements off Manzanillo , Cuba , and in the cutting of the cable between Cape Cruz and Manzanillo from late June 1898 to mid - August . Relieved of command of " Hist " in February 1899 , Young received promotion to lieutenant commander on 3 March and became Captain of the Port of Havana on 22 August of the same year . In the spring of 1900 , he became Commandant , Naval Station , Havana . Explosion of the USS " Bennington " . Following his duty in Cuba , Young became lighthouse inspector in the 9th Naval District and served in that capacity into 1904 . In March 1904 , he was given command of ( Gunboat No . 4 ) and was in command of that ship at the time of her boiler explosion in the summer of the following year . At San Diego on 21 July 1905 , " Bennington " was preparing to get underway for sea ; Commander Young and the ship ' s surgeon , F . E . Peck , were returning to the ship in a boat and were not far from the anchorage when the explosion occurred at 10 : 30 . Young hurried back to the ship , took command , ordered her watertight compartments closed and her magazine s flooded , and then secured the services of an Army tugboat nearby . For this accident , he was court - martial ed , convicted and censured for " remissness in performance " . More than 60 died in the blast . He was later reprimanded by the Secretary of the Navy for verbally abusing a fellow officer who testified in the matter . Young ’ s Navy personnel records reveal that the Secretary of the Navy reprimanded Young for a public verbal dispute with a Lt . Commander Bartlett who had testified in the proceeding . Young , on a public pier , called Bartlett a " liar and a perjurer " . The Secretary of the Navy labeled Young ’ s actions as " grossly insulting to a brother officer " and that to Young there was " only one course available " a " full , frank , and manly apology for a display of temper . " Which , after a delay of several days , Young did . His Naval records show another censure for " misleading and inaccurate reporting " regarding the boilers of the in 1909 . No explosion resulted simply several days of delay . Later assignments . Young later was assigned to duty at the Mare Island Navy Yard and was there at the time of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire , and did much relief work . Ultimately he became Captain of the Yard there before becoming Commandant of the Naval Station , Pensacola , and of the 8th Naval District . His area of command was later extended to include the 7th Naval District . He was appointed Rear Admiral in 1910 . Last years and legacy . Young ' s Navy personnel records reveal an instance of apparent anti - Semitism . Young failed to pay a small [ $ 7 ] tailoring bill . The tailor , one Frank Copper of Vallejo , California , wrote to the Secretary of the Navy complaining after several years of non - payment . The SecNav forwarded the letter to Young for a response . In his written response Young wrote that he had made inquiry in " Vallejo as to who this man [ Copper ] was , and was informed he was a weak and cranky Jew and that he ran a small hat store in town ; that upon two occasions his shop was burned down under suspicious circumstances . " Young further went on , in response to the SecNav ' s request that his response be furnished to Copper wrote for " me now to furnish him with a compulsory copy of this official endorsement , as directed in the 1st endorsement , for him to flaunt about his Hebrew friends , would be to him an excellent advertisement , and a decided humiliation to me . " He died at New York , N . Y . , on 2 October 1912 . Namesake . In 1942 , the destroyer was named in his honor .