Philip H . Cooper Rear Admiral Philip Henry Cooper ( 5 August 1844 - 29 December 1912 ) was an officer in the United States Navy . He fought in the American Civil War and served as Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy and as Commander - in - Chief of the United States Asiatic Fleet . Naval career . Cooper was born in Camden , New York , on 5 August 1844 , the son of Hiram H . and Delia A . Cooper . He was appointed as an acting midshipman from New York ' s 20th congressional district on 28 September 1860 and entered the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis , Maryland , as a member of the class of 1864 ; the Academy moved to Newport , Rhode Island , after the American Civil War broke out in April 1861 . On 16 July 1862 , the rank of acting midshipman was abolished , and Coopers rank changed to midshipman . On 21 November 1862 , Cooper , Henry Glass , and Charles McGregor were appointed acting assistant professors of mathematics at the Naval Academy while all three were still Academy students . Cooper was commissioned as an acting ensign on 28 May 1863 and was assigned to the sloop - of - war , serving as an Academy training ship , the same day . Due to the wartime requirement for officers in the rapidly expanding fleet , Cooper – ranked fifth in his graduating class – was detached early from the Naval Academy on 1 October 1863 and assigned to the steam sloop - of - war in the West Gulf Blockading Squadron in the Gulf of Mexico for the rest of the Civil War . Aboard " Richmond " , he saw action in the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America and in the Battle of Mobile Bay on 5 August 1864 . After the conclusion of the Civil War , Cooper was assigned to the sidewheel steam frigate in the South Pacific Squadron on 28 July 1865 . While aboard " Powhatan " , he was promoted to master on 10 November 1865 and to lieutenant on 10 November 1866 . On 31 December 1867 he was transferred to the staff of the U . S . Naval Academy , where he was assistant to the Commandant of Midshipmen and assistant instructor in seamanship and naval tactics and was promoted to lieutenant commander on 12 March 1868 . He then returned to sea , being assigned to the sailing frigate on 30 April 1869 while she was serving as a training ship , and made a midshipman cruise to Europe and the Mediterranean aboard her . On 9 September 1870 , he became a member of the Tehauntepec and Nicaragua Surveying Expedition . On 31 May 1871 , Cooper detached from the expedition and reported for duty at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn , New York , where he performed duty as equipment officer . He transferred to the screw sloop - of - war on 20 September 1871 . Cooper next returned to duty on the staff of the Naval Academy , assigned there on 10 July 1872 . On 19 July 1875 , he was ordered to the Naval Torpedo Station in Newport , Rhode Island , for torpedo instruction , then was transferred on 17 August 1875 to the Naval Experimental Battery at Annapolis , Maryland . An assignment as assistant hydrographic inspector in the United States Coast Survey office followed , beginning on 28 June 1878 . Cooper detached from the Coast Survey on 7 November 1878 to take up special duty in the Bureau of Navigation and was promoted to commander on 1 November 1879 . He left the bureau on 7 March 1881 to become commanding officer of the screw gunboat while " Alliance " was under repair . He returned to the Bureau of Navigation on 1 October 1881 for a brief period of special duty before taking command of the screw sloop - of - war in the Asiatic Squadron on 17 October 1881 . He left " Swatara " on 20 May 1884 and had duty at the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth , Virginia , from 1 April 1886 until 1888 . While there , he was appointed on 18 February 1887 as senior member of a board to survey all stores and materials at the navy yard . He served on several general courts - martial during 1889 . On 22 January 1890 , Cooper was ordered back to " Swatara " for a second tour as her commanding officer , and he took command of her in March 1890 . On 30 January 1891 , he received orders to detach from " Swatara " on 7 February 1891 . He then served on several courts martial and courts of inquiry during 1891 before being ordered on 18 November 1891 to special duty on the Board on Navy Yard Reorganization . Coopers next duty was as a member of the Board of Inspection and Survey , to which he was assigned on 3 June 1892 . While on the board , he served on several courts martial , oversaw the sea trials of the screw steamer , the armored cruiser , the protected cruiser s , , and , and the gunboat , and was promoted to captain on 11 April 1894 . Leaving the board , Cooper received command of the protected cruiser on 18 July 1894 . On 7 November 1894 he detached from " San Francisco " with orders to become Superintendent of the U . S . Naval Academy , effective 15 November 1894 . He remained superintendent until detached from the Academy on 5 July 1898 . On 7 July 1898 , Cooper reported to the protected cruiser to oversee her fitting out after a lengthy overhaul , and he became her commanding officer when she was recommissioned on 1 December 1898 . After detaching from " Chicago " on 5 October 1899 , he took a leave of absence , then received orders on 5 May 1900 to report aboard the battleship as her commanding officer , effective 9 June 1900 . He detached from " Iowa " on 5 March 1901 and awaited orders until his assignment on 7 October 1901 to serve on a court martial at Tutuila in the Tutuila Islands ( later American Samoa ) . Promoted to rear admiral on 9 February 1902 , Cooper became the president of a general court martial at Port Royal , South Carolina , on 10 April 1902 . In 1902 he was responsible for the defense of the United States East Coast from Barnegat , New Jersey , north to the border with Canada and in July 1902 took part in combined U . S . Navy - United States Army maneuvers with his headquarters at the Naval War College in Newport , Rhode Island , and using the gunboat as his flagship . Cooper reported for duty on 6 February 1903 as Senior Squadron Commander in the Asiatic Fleet . On 1 March 1903 , he assumed command of the fleets Southern Squadron and on 2 July 1903 of its Cruiser Squadron . On 21 March 1904 , he assumed command of the entire Asiatic Fleet . However , his health went into decline , and on 1 or 11 July 1904 ( sources vary ) , Cooper detached from the Asiatic Fleet . On 5 August 1904 , he retired from the Navy . Personal life . Coopers first wife was the former Addie Lou Paine . He married his second wife , Sarah Lawrence Stuart ( 1851 - 1881 ) , on 3 October 1871 . After she died , he married his third wife , Katherine J . Foote Saltus ( 1853 - 1937 ) on 24 June 1884 . He fathered six children , Gerald Cooper ( d . 1887 ) , Geraldine Cooper ( d . 1885 ) , Stuart Cooper ( 1873 - 1924 ) , Philip Benson Cooper ( 1877 - 1956 ) , Dorothy Bradford Cooper Patterson ( 1889 - 1972 ) , and Leslie B . Cooper ( 1894 - 1944 ) ; the latter became a nationally recognized helicopter expert and a United States Army Air Forces lieutenant colonel before dying in the crash of a U . S . Army Air Forces training plane in New Jersey in October 1944 . Death . Cooper apparently contracted chronic malaria while in Nicaragua in 1870 and 1871 on the surveying expedition . Repeated bouts of malaria took a toll on his health , which became poor enough in 1904 to force him to relinquish command of the Asiatic Fleet and retire . He returned to the United States but never completely recovered , and died at Morristown , New Jersey , on 29 December 1912 of interstitial myocarditis and general arteriosclerosis . Cooper is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Morristown .