Kenneth Whiting Kenneth Whiting ( 22 July 1881 - 24 April 1943 ) was a United States Navy officer who was a pioneer in submarine s and is best known for his lengthy career as a pioneering naval aviator . During World War I , he commanded the first American military force to arrive in Europe for combat . After the war , he was instrumental in development of the aircraft carrier in the United States , where he sometimes is known as the U . S . Navys " father of the aircraft carrier . " He was involved in some way in the design or construction of five of the first six U . S . Navy aircraft carriers , and served as acting commanding officer of the first carrier to enter U . S . Navy service and as executive officer of the first two American carriers . In the earliest days of the U . S . Navys development of an aircraft carrier force , he led many shipboard innovations still in use aboard carriers today . Birth and early career . Whiting was born in Stockbridge , Massachusetts , on 22 July 1881 , but moved to Larchmont , New York , at an early age . Larchmont remained his residence for the rest of his life . He was appointed as a Naval Cadet on 7 September 1900 and became a midshipman from New York at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis , Maryland , in 1901 . After graduating from the Naval Academy on 30 January 1905 , he reported aboard the armored cruiser . After serving the requisite sea duty , he was commissioned as an ensign on either 31 January 1907 or 25 February 1908 , according to different sources . In June 1907 , Whiting detached from " West Virginia " and transferred to the gunboat on the Asiatic Station . He transferred again , to the steamer , in May 1908 . Submarine service . After a brief stint aboard " Concord " again from August to October 1908 , Whiting volunteered for submarine duty and was reassigned to command of the submarine at Naval Station Cavite in the Philippine Islands to oversee her fitting - out . He then assumed command of the submarine at Cavite on 20 November 1908 . On 15 April 1909 , Whiting took " Porpoise " out for what his crew of six thought would be a routine run . After " Porpoise " leveled off in Manila Bay at a depth of 20 feet ( 6 . 1 meters ) , Whiting informed his crew that he was convinced that a man could escape from a submarine through a torpedo tube and that he intended to test the idea on himself . He squeezed into " Porpoise " s 18 - inch ( 460 - mm ) tube and clung to the crossbar which stiffened the outer torpedo tube door as the crew closed the inner door . When the crew opened the outer door and seawater rushed in , Whiting hung onto the crossbar , which drew his elbows out of the tubes mouth , and then muscled his way out using his hands and arms . After 77 seconds , he was free of the submarine and swam to the surface ; " Porpoise " soon surfaced and recovered him . Reluctant to speak about the incident in public – in " Porpoise " s log that day , Whiting simply commented , " Whiting went through the torpedo tube , boat lying in water in normal condition , as an experiment . . . " – he nevertheless informed his flotilla commander , Lieutenant Guy W . S . Castle , who submitted a report on how the feat had been accomplished . In September 1910 , Whiting detached from " Porpoise " . He next took command of the Atlantic Fleet submarine . In January 1911 , he reported to the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News , Virginia , to fit out the new submarine USS " Seal " , which was renamed " G - 1 " later that year . He became the first commanding officer of " G - 1 " when she was commissioned on 28 October 1912 . Naval aviation . In 1910 , Whiting applied for flight training by Glenn Curtiss and talked his friend from the submarine service Theodore G . Ellyson into applying as well . Ellyson was accepted and went on to become Naval Aviator No . 1 in 1911 , but Whiting was not and continued his submarine duties . On 29 June 1914 , however , Whiting finally began his career in naval aviation , the field in which he was to make his name as a true pioneer , when he reported to the Wright Company at Dayton , Ohio , to learn to fly . The last naval officer to take flight training from Orville Wright personally , Whiting was designated Naval Aviator No . 16 on 6 September 1914 . Whiting then became officer - in - charge of the Naval Aeronautic Station at Pensacola , Florida . He and fellow naval aviator Henry C . Mustin worked together on seaplane designs and filed a patent application for the design of a " hydroaeroplane " on 27 October 1916 . In November 1916 , he transferred to the armored cruiser – renamed USS " Seattle " on 1 December 1916 – and took command of a unit of seaplanes attached to the ship . Whiting would later become a member of the Early Birds of Aviation , an organization founded in 1928 and dedicated to the history of pilots who learned to fly before 17 December 1916 . World War I . The United States entered World War I on 6 April 1917 , and Whiting was selected to command the 1st Naval Air Unit ( or First Aeronautic Detachment ) and assigned to the collier in May 1917 . The units seven officers and 122 enlisted men crossed the Atlantic Ocean to France aboard " Neptune " and the collier to become the first American military unit to debark in Europe for combat , with " Jupiter " arriving at Pauillac on 5 June 1917 and " Neptune " at St . Nazaire on 8 June 1917 . With only vague guidance and , at first , no aircraft , Whiting set about establishing a European presence for U . S . Navy aviation . In June 1917 , he selected Dunkirk as the site for a U . S . Navy air base , laying the groundwork for the establishment in 1918 of the U . S . Navys Northern Bombing Group . He also instructed French pilots . On 1 June or 20 July 1918 , according to different sources , Whiting , by now promoted to lieutenant commander , took command of Naval Air Stations 14 and 15 at Killingholme , England . For his World War I service , Whiting was awarded the Navy Cross " for exceptionally meritorious service in a duty of great responsibility , " and France awarded him the Legion of Honor ( Chevalier ) . Interwar aircraft carrier advocacy . Whiting sometimes is referred to as the U . S . Navys “ father of the aircraft carrier . ” He had begun agitating for U . S . Navy development of what were then called " plane carriers " in the spring of 1916 , and as early as March 1917 he had proposed to United States Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels that the Navy acquire a ship with an aircraft catapult and a flight deck , prompting the first serious U . S . Navy consideration of the acquisition of any kind of aviation ship since the American Civil War of 1861 – 1865 . The United States Department of the Navy rejected his proposal on 20 June 1917 . In the years between World War I and World War II , however , Whiting would be instrumental in the construction of five of the U . S . Navys first six aircraft carriers and serve as executive officer of its first two . He also served as acting commanding officer of its first carrier at a time when the United States was experimenting with many aspects of the operation of aircraft carriers and their aircraft . Returning to the United States after World War I , Whiting was assigned to the Chief of Naval Operations Office of Naval Aviation in Washington , D . C . , in 1919 . Testifying along with other leading naval aviators , including Henry C . Mustin and John Henry Towers , before the General Board of the United States Navy about the need for U . S . Navy aircraft carriers , Whiting was partially responsible for the General Boards April 1919 recommendation that the collier be converted into the U . S . Navys first aircraft carrier . On 11 July 1919 , the United States Congress authorized " Jupiter " s conversion into the carrier , which later would be named . Later in 1919 , after the battleship experimented successfully with the use of aircraft to spot her gunfire and found that the aircraft spotters allowed her greater accuracy , Whiting testified before the General Board , attesting that aircraft spotting could increase the accuracy of ship gunnery by up to 200 percent . The success of the experiments led the Navy to embark floatplane s aboard all of its battleships and cruiser s . On 1 September 1921 Whiting transferred to the Navys newly established Bureau of Aeronautics . There he continued his advocacy for an American aircraft carrier force . In January 1922 , he said , " The " Langley " when commissioned will provide our Navy with an experimental carrier which , while not ideal , will be sufficiently serviceable to conduct any experiment required for the design of future carriers and for the development of naval aerial tactics , and for the development of the various types of aircraft . . . for these last are also lacking in our Navy , due to concentrating on anti - submarine work during the War [ i . e . , World War I ] . That carriers will be successful , and an absolute necessity to any well - equipped navy in the future , there is not the slightest doubt in my mind . We are asking this Congress for the first properly designed ' carrier . ' It will take from three to four years to build it . Will they give it to us ? " The " properly designed " carriers Whiting wanted first began to appear in 1927 , with the commissioning of and . USS " Langley " ( CV - 1 ) . Whiting reported aboard " Langley " on 20 March 1922 , the day of her commissioning , as her first executive officer , also serving on an acting basis as her first commanding officer and thus becoming the first person to command a U . S . Navy aircraft carrier . " Langley " was far too slow to keep up with the battle fleet , and her main purpose was to serve as a laboratory for the exploration of the new naval warfare discipline of aircraft carrier operations , with her personnel and those of her embarked air squadrons experimenting to discover what practices worked best . Flying a Vought VE - 7 , Lieutenant Virgil C . Griffin made the first takeoff from an American carrier from " Langley " on 17 October 1922 , and Lieutenant Commander Godfrey Chevalier made the first landing on 26 October 1922 in an Aeromarine 39 B . On 18 November 1922 , Whiting himself made the worlds first catapult launch of an aircraft from an aircraft carrier while aboard " Langley " , piloting a Naval Aircraft Factory PT while " Langley " was at anchor in Virginias York River . Whiting was credited with establishing many basic tenets of carrier aviation , largely worked out during his first " Langley " tour . He established the first pilot ready room s aboard " Langley " . He had a hand - cranked movie camera film every landing on the carrier to aid in the evaluation of landing techniques , and had a darkroom and photography laboratory installed on board to allow the landing films to be developed at sea . " Langley " s pilots had no signaling system with which shipboard personnel could assist them in landing , so when not flying himself , Whiting observed all landings from the aft port corner of " Langley " s flight deck . where he was visible to pilots in critical touchdown attitudes when the nose of the aircraft might obscure their view straight ahead as they approached the ship to land . Pilots found Whitings body language helpful and suggested an experienced pilot be assigned to occupy that position as a " landing signal officer " or " landing safety officer " ( LSO ) , using signals to guide them to safe landings . In an advanced form , the LSO concept survives aboard aircraft carriers to this day . Whiting also was influential in the U . S . Navys decision to make pilot qualification a requirement for command of an aircraft carrier . Later duties . In July 1924 , Whiting returned to duty at the Bureau of Aeronautics to serve as its assistant chief . Later he became head of the Aircraft Carriers Division . In September 1926 , he reported to the Brown - Boveri Electric Company in Camden , New Jersey , to oversee the construction of the aircraft carrier , which was commissioned in 1927 as the second American aircraft carrier and the first one capable of operating with the battle fleet . He became her first executive officer on 16 November 1927 , remaining in that position until May 1929 . Whiting was promoted to captain on 1 July 1929 . He became aide and chief of staff to Commander , Aircraft Squadrons , Battle Fleet , in September 1929 . In August 1930 , Whiting took command of Naval Air Station Norfolk at Norfolk , Virginia . In June 1932 , he departed Norfolk for Newport , Rhode Island , where he attended the Naval War College and received instruction at the Naval Torpedo Station . He returned to USS " Langley " as her commanding officer on 15 June 1933 , leaving her in December 1933 to fit out the new aircraft carrier at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company . He left " Ranger " in 1934 to assist in developing plans for the new aircraft carriers and . In June 1934 he returned to USS " Saratoga " to serve as her commanding officer . Whiting left " Saratoga " in July 1935 and next became Commander , Aircraft Squadrons , Battle Fleet , serving simultaneously as commander of Fleet Air Base Pearl Harbor , Territory of Hawaii . In September 1937 , he became commanding officer of Patrol Wing 2 , remaining in that position until 3 June 1938 . On 14 July 1939 , Whiting reported for duty as General Inspector of Naval Aircraft , Eastern Division , in the Third Naval District at New York , New York . He was still in this position when he was placed on the retirement list on 30 June 1940 . However , instead of retiring , he was retained on active duty . World War II . After the United States entered World War II on 7 December 1941 , Whiting continued his general inspector duties until 19 February 1943 , when he took command of Naval Air Station New York in Brooklyn , New York , serving also as District Aviation Officer , Third Naval District . He held these posts until his death . Death . Whiting was suffering from pneumonia and hospitalized at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda , Maryland , when he died of a heart attack on 24 April 1943 . Among the honorary pallbearer s at his funeral in Larchmont , New York , on 27 April 1943 were Undersecretary of the Navy James V . Forrestal , Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics Rear Admiral John S . McCain , Sr . , Rear Admiral George D . Murray , and Harry Frank Guggenheim . In accordance with Whitings wishes , his ashes were buried at sea off the Execution Rocks in the deepest part of Long Island Sound . Commemoration . Naval Air Station Whiting Field near Milton in Santa Rosa County , Florida , is named for Whiting . His widow , Edna Andresen Whiting , was among 1 , 500 people who attended its commissioning on 16 July 1943 . A plaque there reads : " “ Whiting Field , named in honor of Capt . Kenneth Whiting , U . S . Navy , Pioneer in Submarines and Aviation , Naval Aviator No . 16 , Father of the Aircraft Carrier in our Navy , Died on Active Duty on April 24 , 1943 . ” One U . S . Navy ship , the seaplane tender , has been named for Whiting . Edna Andresen Whiting served as sponsor during the ships launching ceremonies on 15 December 1943 . The ship served in the latter stages of World War II in 1944 - 1945 , in the Korean War in 1952 - 1953 , and then in the Cold War until 1958 . Whiting was inducted into the Naval Aviation Hall of Honor at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola , Florida , in 1984 .