Stuart H . Ingersoll Stuart Howe Ingersoll ( June 3 , 1898 – January 29 , 1983 ) was a vice admiral of the United States Navy . He was a naval aviator whose career included service as an aircraft carrier commander during World War II and tours as President of the Naval War College and Commandant of Midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy . Naval career . Ingersoll was born on 3 June 1898 in Springfield , Massachusetts . Aboard the carrier Monterey , aircraft in the hangar deck slammed into one another causing fires to break out . Captain Stuart H . Ingersoll was ordered by Admiral William Halsey to abandon ship , but Ingersoll decided to battle the inferno , and he and his men eventually put it out , saving the carrier . World War II . In the second half of 1941 , the U . S . Navy began convoy escort of Allied and neutral shipping in the North Atlantic Ocean west of Iceland , even before the United States entered World War II on 7 December 1941 . During this period , Ingersoll was a lieutenant commander and air operations officer on the staff of Rear Admiral Arthur L . Bristol , Jr . , who was commander of the U . S . Navy Support Force at Argentia in the Dominion of Newfoundland , the force responsible for the escort work . In March 1942 , PBO Hudson patrol aircraft from Argentia sank the first two German submarine s ( U - boat s ) sunk by the United States Armed Forces during World War II . By 1944 , Ingersoll was a captain and the commanding officer of the light aircraft carrier , which operated in the Pacific Ocean in the United States Third and Fifth Fleets . He commanded " Monterey " during the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944 and during the extremely dangerous Typhoon Cobra of December 1944 , during which aircraft in " Monterey " s hangar deck broke loose and wrought destruction as they slid across the deck while the ship rolled heavily , igniting a fire . Urged to abandon ship by United States Third Fleet commander Admiral William F . Halsey , Jr . , Ingersoll exhibited determination to save " Monterey " in ignoring the order as he directed his crew – which included future U . S . President Gerald R . Ford – to extinguish the fire and displayed excellent seamanship in saving the ship . Ingersoll received the Navy Cross for heroism during a Japanese air attack off Formosa . Postwar . After World War II , Ingersoll served as Commandant of Midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy from 1945 to 1947 . Future U . S . President Jimmy Carter was a midshipman at the academy during his tenure . He later served as the commander of the United States Sixth Fleet and from 19 December 1955 to 28 January 1957 was commander of the United States Seventh Fleet , also serving as Commander , United States Taiwan Defense Command , from December 1955 to July 1957 . Ingersoll became the Naval War College s 31st president on 13 August 1957 , bringing a broad background in post - World War II planning and leadership in unified commands to the college . During his presidency , he oversaw the changeover of the college ' s wargaming from manual to computerized processes , and on 13 November 1958 , the Naval Electronic Warfare Simulator ( NEWS ) was commissioned in Sims Hall . He also served on the Civil War Centennial Commission while at the college , beginning in the autumn of 1957 . His presidency concluded on 30 June 1960 . Personal life . Ingersolls first marriage was to the former Josephine Springman ( d . 1964 ) , with whom he had a son , Stuart H . " Mike " Ingersoll II , and two daughters , Mary Josephine and Sally Ann . He later married Elinore Dorrance Hill ( d . 1977 ) . Death . Ingersoll died on 29 January 1983 in Newport , Rhode Island . Decorations . Navy Cross citation . His official Navy Cross citation reads : Ribbon bar . Here is vice admiral Stuart H . Ingersoll´s ribbon bar :