Thomas H . Robbins , Jr . Thomas Hinckley Robbins , Jr . ( 11 May 1900 – 12 December 1972 ) was a rear admiral of the United States Navy . A naval aviator , his career included command of an aircraft carrier during World War II , service as a key advisor to the United States Secretary of the Navy , and a tour as President of the Naval War College . Robbins ancestors included William Bradford ( 1590 - 1657 ) , the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony , and Thomas Hinckley ( 1618 - 1706 ) , a governor of Plymouth Colony . His great - great - grandfather was Fisher Ames ( 1758 - 1808 ) , a Massachusetts politician who served in the United States House of Representatives . Naval career . Robbins was born on 11 May 1900 in Paris , France , the son of Thomas Hinckley Robbins , Sr . ( 9 April 1877 – 14 November 1954 ) , and the former Alice Ames ( 23 September 1873 – 23 October 1951 ) . He entered the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis , Maryland , as a member of the Class of 1920 , but his curriculum was accelerated due to the entry of the United States into World War I on 6 April 1917 , and he graduated in 1919 . Interwar . Between 1919 and 1922 , Robbins served consecutively aboard the troop transport , the battleship , and the destroyer . From 1922 to 1924 , he was assigned to the armed yacht in Turkish waters , also seeing service aboard the submarine chaser in the Black Sea in 1923 and 1924 . In 1924 and 1925 he served first aboard the destroyer , then aboard the destroyer . He then was an instructor at the U . S . Naval Academy from 1925 to 1927 , before reporting to the battleship " Utah " in 1928 for a second tour aboard her . While aboard " Utah " in 1928 , Robbins – by now a lieutenant – was ordered to Naval Air Station Pensacola in Pensacola , Florida , for flight training , and he was designated Naval Aviator No . 3426 later that year . He served his first aviation tour as a member of Scouting Squadron 5 ( VS - 5 ) aboard the light cruiser from 1928 to 1929 , followed by duty as the executive officer of Scouting Squadron 6 ( VS - 6 ) aboard the light cruiser from 1929 to 1931 . From 1931 to 1932 he was the assistant operations officer at Naval Air Station Anacostia in Washington , D . C . , after that serving as aide to the chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics at the United States Department of the Navy in Washington from 1932 to 1933 . Robbins became commanding officer of the minesweeper / aircraft tender in 1933 . While he was in command , " Sandpiper " operated in the waters of the Territory of Alaska and took part in the Aleutian Islands survey expedition of 1935 . Leaving " Sandpiper " in 1935 , he was assigned to Scouting Squadron 4 ( VS - 4 ) aboard the aircraft carrier . He entered the Naval War College in Newport , Rhode Island , in 1936 , graduating in 1937 . He then became aviation officer at the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport in 1937 before returning to the Naval War College to serve on its staff from 1938 to 1939 . Robbins next tour was as navigator of the aircraft carrier from 1939 to 1940 , followed by duty in 1940 and 1941 as aviation officer on the staff of the Commander , Scouting Force , and Commander , Task Force 3 . Later in 1941 he became the Chief of Naval Operations liaison officer to the Commanding General of the Army Air Forces Command in Washington , D . C . , the position he held when the United States entered World War II on 7 December 1941 . World War II . In 1942 , Robbins became liaison officer from Headquarters , Commander - in - Chief , United States Fleet , to the U . S . Army Air Forces Combat Command in Washington , D . C . Later in 1942 , he became aviation plans officer for Headquarters , Commander - in - Chief , United States Fleet . In 1943 he moved on to become naval aviation officer at the Army - Navy Staff College in Washington . In 1944 , he received a temporary assignment to Air Force , United States Pacific Fleet , embarked aboard the aircraft carrier . On 30 January 1945 , Robbins – by then a captain – became commanding officer of the aircraft carrier . While he was in command , " Lexington " participated in strikes against Tokyo , Japan , in February 1945 in support of the Iwo Jima campaign and against Japanese forces on Iwo Jima itself . After an overhaul in the United States , " Lexington " returned to action , attacking Japanese forces on Luzon in June 1945 during the Luzon campaign and participating in heavy strikes against Japan itself in July and August 1945 , when the war ended . Immediately after the war , Robbins oversaw " Lexington " s efforts to air - drop supplies to Allied prisoners - of - war in Japan in advance of their liberation by occupying American forces . " Lexington " was the first " Essex " - class aircraft carrier to enter Tokyo Bay after the war , and she was anchored there on 16 November 1945 when Robbins was promoted to rear admiral and left the ship for assignments in Washington , D . C . He received the Legion of Merit with Combat Distinguishing Device ( Combat " V " ) for his tour aboard " Lexington " . Postwar . Between 1945 and 1948 , Robbins served consecutively in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Air , the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations , and the Office of the United States Secretary of the Navy , and became a key advisor to Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal while Forrestal was overseeing the completion of the Navys transition from an orientation toward battleships to one toward aircraft carriers . In February 1947 , Robbins read of a United States Army Air Forces plan to fly the P - 82 Twin Mustang fighter " Betty Jo " nonstop from Honolulu , Hawaii , to New York City . He suggested that the Navy have a P2V - 1 Neptune patrol plane take off from Honolulu within 30 minutes of the P - 82s departure and beat the P - 82 to New York in order to steal the days glory from the Army Air Forces , but the Navy did not follow up on his idea . From 1948 to 1949 , Robbins was the commander of Carrier Division 17 . He was the U . S . Navy member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff s Joint Strategic Survey Committee in Washington , D . C . , from 1949 to 1952 , then served as the commander of Carrier Division 2 from 1952 to 1953 . Robbins became chief of staff of the Naval War College in 1953 . When the tour of the colleges 28th president , Vice Admiral Richard L . Conolly , ended on 2 November 1953 . Robbins served as acting president until the 29th president , Vice Admiral Lynde D . McCormick , began his tour on 3 May 1954 , after which Robbins served as McCormicks chief of staff . When McCormick became the first of the colleges presidents to die in office on 16 August 1956 , Robbins again became acting president , serving in this capacity until himself becoming the colleges 30th president on 5 September 1956 . During his presidency , Robbins instituted a new course for senior officers of foreign navies that McCormick had established before his death . After leaving the college on 1 August 1957 , Robbins became President of the Naval Discharge Review Board at the Bureau of Naval Personnel at the Department of the Navy in Washington , D . C . , the first Naval War College president since World War II to remain in active Navy service after his presidency . Leaving the board in 1960 , he became Commandant of the Potomac River Naval Command , Naval Weapons Plant , Washington , D . C . , receiving a gold star in lieu of a second award of the Legion of Merit for his service in that capacity between August 1960 and May 1962 . Upon conclusion of his tour in the Potomac River Naval Command , Robbins retired from the Navy as a rear admiral in 1962 . Personal life . Robbins married the former Barbara Little ( 30 June 1904 – 16 May 2000 ) in 1930 . They had a daughter , Barbara Robbins Armstrong . Death . Robbins died on 12 December 1972 in New London , Connecticut . He is buried at the United States Naval Academy Cemetery .