William Ledyard Rodgers William Ledyard Rodgers ( February 4 , 1860 – May 7 , 1944 ) was a vice admiral of the United States Navy . His career included service in the Spanish - American War and World War I , and a tour as President of the Naval War College . Rodgers was also a noted historian on military and naval topics , particularly relating to ancient naval warfare . He was the third generation in a well - known family of able naval officers . He was the son of Rear Admiral John Rodgers ( 1812 - 1882 ) , who fought in the Second Seminole War ( 1839 - 1842 ) and the American Civil War ( 1861 - 1865 ) , and the grandson of Commodore John Rodgers ( 1772 - 1838 ) , who fought in the War of 1812 ( 1812 - 1814 ) . Rodgerss own son , John Rodgers , born in 1881 , also served as a U . S . Navy officer and was an early aviator , reaching the rank of commander before dying in a plane crash in 1926 . Naval career . Born on 4 February 1860 in Washington , D . C . , the son of John Rodgers ( 1812 - 1882 ) and Ann Elizabeth Hodge Rodgers ( 1823 - 1897 ) , William Ledyard Rodgers entered the United States Naval Academy on 11 June 1874 and graduated in 1878 . He served aboard the steamer from 1878 to 1879 and at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington , D . C . , from 1880 to 1881 , and was promoted to midshipman on 4 June 1880 . He served aboard the corvette on the European Station from 1881 to 1884 and was promoted to ensign on 1 April 1882 . Rodgers was on special duty at the United States Department of the Navy in Washington , D . C . , from 1884 to 1885 , then received instruction in torpedo service during 1886 . He was assigned to the Office of Naval Intelligence from 1886 to 1888 , then to special duty aboard the protected cruiser from 1889 to 1892 , being promoted to lieutenant , junior grade , on 4 May 1889 while aboard " Atlanta " . From December 1892 until 1895 , he served at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington , D . C . , and was promoted to lieutenant in February 1894 . In October 1895 , Rodgers reported for duty aboard the screw gunboat , which operated as a training ship during his tour . Leaving " Alliance " , he was assigned in May 1897 to the Columbian Iron Works and Dry Dock Company , which was engaged in ship construction for the U . S . Navy in Baltimore , Maryland . In January 1898 , Rodgers took command of the torpedo boat , leading her into combat when the Spanish - American War broke out in April 1898 . " Foote " assisted in the blockade of Cuba , patrolling the coast closely , and fought the first battle of the war on 23 or 25 April 1898 ( sources vary ) , when she approached the harbor at Cárdenas , Cuba , to scout shipping and exchanged fire with the Spanish Navy gunboat " Ligera " . Spanish sources claim that " Foote " was badly damaged and forced to withdraw , but U . S . sources state that she simply withdrew . " Foote " also bombarded Morro Island on 29 April 1898 , and during the summer carried mail , dispatches , and supplies from Key West , Florida , to the blockading squadron off Cuba until the end of the war in August 1898 . Rodgers returned to duty at the Washington Navy Yard on 3 November 1898 . On 15 May 1900 , he reported aboard the screw sloop - of - war , which was in service with the Training Squadron , and was aboard her until 1901 , being promoted to lieutenant commander on 19 February 1901 . He was assigned to the battleship before moving on to a tour on the Naval War College staff at Newport , Rhode Island . After that , he was executive officer of the battleship in the United States Asiatic Fleet before becoming commanding officer of the Asiatic Fleet gunboat in 1906 . Relinquishing command of " Wilmington " , Rodgers attended the United States Army War College in Carlisle , Pennsylvania , in 1907 - 1908 . While there , he learned about the " applicability system " or " estimate of the situation , " requiring that war planning be developed through a four - step process involving " statement of mission , assessment of enemy forces and intentions , assessment of own forces , and evaluation of possible courses of action . " He suggested to Raymond P . Rodgers , who served as President of the Naval War College from 1909 to 1911 , that the Navy adopt a similar approach . Raymond P . Rodgers introduced it into war planning at the college during his presidency , and it has remained a part of Navy war planning ever since . In 1909 , William Ledyard Rodgers assumed command of the battleship . He then relieved Raymond P . Rodgers as President of the Naval War College on 20 November 1911 , serving as president until 15 December 1913 . He next took command of the new battleship , then in 1915 became a member of the General Board of the United States Navy in Washington , D . C . In 1916 , Rodgers was promoted to rear admiral and given command of the United States Atlantic Fleet s Training and Service Force , the command he continued to hold after the United States entered World War I in April 1917 . In this capacity , he oversaw the training of Atlantic Fleet personnel and the repair and replenishment of its ships through the end of the war in November 1918 , using first the repair ship and later the store ship as his flagship . He received the Navy Cross for superior performance in this position . In December 1918 , Rodgers was promoted to vice admiral and on 7 December 1918 he took command of the United States Asiatic Fleet , a position he held until 1 September 1919 . In 1920 , he returned to the U . S . Navys General Board in Washington , D . C . , to serve as its Senior Member , the position he held until his retirement in 1924 . During this tour , he also served on the Advisory Commission to the Conference on the Limitation of Armaments in 1921 - 1922 , and as a technical adviser to the Committee of Jurists on the Laws of War at The Hague in the Netherlands in 1923 . Military and naval historian and author . Rodgers had a lifelong love of military and naval history . Throughout his life , he consistently showed an interest in actual hands - on testing and physical examination of history . He wrote many articles on various historical subjects , such as the rate of fire of the Welsh longbow , which were published in various military journals and magazines of the time , and in 1907 published a book titled " A Study of Attacks Upon Fortified Harbors ( Artillery Notes ) " , published by Artillery School Press . In retirement , Rodgers continued to pursue his passion for military and naval history . He wrote the introduction to Captain Dudley Knox s classic " A History of the United States Navy " , published in 1936 . He served as president of the Naval Historical Foundation from 1933 to 1943 , and donated much of his fathers book collection as well as volumes of his own collection to the United States Department of the Navy . Rodgers most enduring legacy are two classic works on naval warfare he wrote in retirement , titled " Greek and Roman Naval Warfare : A Study of Strategy , Tactics and Ship Design from Salamis ( 480 B . C . ) to Actium " , published in 1937 , and " Naval Warfare Under Oars , 4th to 16th Centuries : A Study of Strategy , Tactics and Ship Design " , published in 1939 . While the former work focuses on the ancient Greek and Roman world of the Mediterranean Sea , the latter work also contains chapters on such rare topics as Viking and medieval naval warfare . Rodgers was primarily a military historian who described battle s and tactics , but his works also derive principles of naval warfare in the ancient and medieval worlds , and contain some detailed descriptions of archeological finds and commentary on the limitations of materials and the design of ancient and medieval naval vessels . Death . Rodgers died at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda , Maryland , on 7 May 1944 , at the age of 84 . He is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in the Georgetown section of Washington , D . C .