Samuel L . Gravely , Jr . Samuel Lee Gravely , Jr . ( June 4 , 1922 – October 22 , 2004 ) was an African - American pioneer in the United States Navy — the first African American in the U . S . Navy to serve aboard a fighting ship as an officer , the first to command a Navy ship , the first fleet commander , and the first to become a flag officer , retiring as a vice admiral . Early life and training . Gravely was born on June 4 , 1922 in Richmond , Virginia , the oldest of five children of Mary George Gravely and postal worker Samuel L . Gravely , Sr . He attended Virginia Union University but left before graduating to join the Naval Reserve in 1942 . He had attempted to enlist in the U . S . Army in 1940 but was turned away due to a supposed heart murmur . After receiving basic training at Great Lakes , Illinois , Gravely entered the V - 12 Navy College Training Program at the University of California , Los Angeles . Upon graduating from UCLA , he completed Midshipmen ' s School at Columbia University and was commissioned an ensign on November 14 , 1944 . His commission came only eight months after the " Golden Thirteen " became the first African - American officers in the U . S . Navy . World War II and Korean War . Gravely began his seagoing career as the only black officer aboard the submarine chaser , which was one of two U . S . Navy ships ( the other being ) with a predominantly black enlisted crew . Before June 1 , 1942 , African Americans could only enlist in the Navy as messmen ; " PC - 1264 " and " Mason " were intended to test the ability of blacks to perform general Navy service . For the remainder of World War II , " PC - 1264 " conducted patrols and escort missions along the east coast of the U . S . and south to the Caribbean . In 1946 , Gravely was released from active duty , remaining in the Naval Reserve . He married schoolteacher Alma Bernice Clark later that year ; the couple went on to raise three children , Robert , David , and Tracey . He returned to his hometown of Richmond and re - enrolled at Virginia Union University , graduating in 1948 with a degree in history and then working as a railway postal clerk . Gravely was recalled to active duty in 1949 and worked as a recruiter in Washington , D . C . before holding both shore and sea assignments during the Korean War . He transferred from the Reserve to the regular Navy in 1955 and began to specialize in naval communications . Vietnam War and later career . Many of Gravely ' s later career achievements represented " firsts " for African Americans . In 1961 , he became the first African - American officer to command a U . S . Navy ship , the ( Robert Smalls had briefly commanded a Navy ship in the American Civil War , although he was a civilian , not a Navy officer ) . When he took command of the destroyer escort in January 1962 , he was the first African - American officer to command a combat ship . During the Vietnam War he commanded the destroyer as it performed plane guard duty and gunfire support off the coast of Vietnam in 1966 , making him the first African American to lead a ship into combat . In 1967 he became the first African American to reach the rank of captain , and in 1971 the first to reach rear admiral . At the time of his promotion to rear admiral , he was in command of the guided missile frigate . Gravely commanded Cruiser - Destroyer Group Two . He was later named the Director of Naval Communications . From 1976 to 1978 he commanded of the Third Fleet based in Hawaii , then transferred to Virginia to direct the Defense Communications Agency until his retirement in 1980 . Gravely ' s military decorations include the World War II Victory Medal , the Korean Service Medal with two service star s , the United Nations Korea Medal , and the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation . Later years and legacy . Following his military retirement , Gravely settled in rural Haymarket , Virginia , and worked as a consultant . After suffering a stroke , Gravely died at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda , Maryland , on October 22 , 2004 . He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery . In Richmond , the street on which Gravely grew up was renamed " Admiral Gravely Boulevard " in 1977 . The destroyer , commissioned in 2010 , was named in his honor .