Charles K . Duncan Charles Kenney Duncan ( December 7 , 1911 – June 27 , 1994 ) was a United States Navy four star admiral who served as Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic / Commander in Chief , United States Atlantic Command / Commander in Chief , U . S . Atlantic Fleet ( SACLANT / CINCLANT / CINCLANTFLT ) from 1970 to 1972 . Military career . Duncan was born on December 7 , 1911 in Nicholasville , Kentucky . At the age of nine his mother became a full professor at the University of Kentucky , and the family moved to Lexington , where he attended University High School , Kavanaugh Preparatory School , and the University of Kentucky before entering the United States Naval Academy . Graduating in 1933 , he was commissioned an Ensign and was assigned to the USS Salt Lake City ( CA - 25 ) , where he remained for five years . Transferring to the Atlantic in 1938 , he served aboard the USS Schenck ( DD - 159 ) , and in June 1940 was assigned to the staff of Commander Destroyers , Atlantic Fleet , at the time of that command ' s creation . During his tenure he met Sheila Taylor of Halifax , Nova Scotia , whom he married in the summer of 1941 in Bermuda . In 1942 he was the first executive officer of the destroyer USS Hutchins ( DD - 476 ) , which proceeded from the Atlantic to the Pacific , taking part in combat in the Aleutians and the South Pacific . He was given command of the USS Wilson ( DD - 408 ) , seeing combat in the South and Central Pacific areas . During this time he was awarded two Navy Commendation medals with Combat " V . " Towards the end of the war he was assigned as Director of Naval Officer Procurement , Bureau of Naval Personnel , a position he held from 1944 to 1946 . Following World War II , he served in various capacities such as Executive Assistant to the Chief of Naval Personnel 1953 to 1955 , a battleship executive officer , commanding an amphibious ship and a destroyer division , and as operations officer of the U . S . Pacific Fleet . He also served on the Holloway Board whose mission was to " study the form , system , and method of education of Naval officers . " The outcome of the board was the establishment of modern Naval ROTC and direct commissions for college graduates from Officer Candidate School . Duncan was promoted to flag rank in the summer of 1958 , and concurrently assigned Commander , Amphibious Group One from 1958 to 1959 , followed by Commander , Amphibious Training Command , Pacific Fleet from 1959 to 1961 . He took command of U . S . Naval Base Subic Bay in January 1961 , During his tenure he served as president of a Philippine charity and vice president of the Philippines Tubercular Association . After a stint as Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel for Plans and Programs from 1962 to 1964 , he turned to command , as Commander , Atlantic Fleet Cruiser - Destroyer Force from 1964 to 1965 , then commanded the United States Second Fleet and NATO ' s Striking Fleet Atlantic and the Atlantic Fleet Amphibious Force . During this time he was promoted to Vice Admiral . He was awarded the Legion of Merit for " exceptionally meritorious service " while Commander Amphibious Force , U . S . Atlantic Fleet , from June 1965 to May 1967 . Duncan became Deputy Chief of Naval Operations ( Manpower and Naval Reserve ) and the Chief of Naval Personnel , serving in that capacity from April 1968 to August 1970 , before becoming the seventh NATO Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic on September 30 , 1970 , and concurrently Commander in Chief Atlantic ( the United States Unified Command ) and the Commander in Chief of the U . S . Atlantic Fleet . As Supreme Allied Commander , Atlantic , he conducted the largest NATO naval exercises held until that time . He received the Order of Orange - Nassau from the Netherlands , and the Grand Cross of the Order of Aviz from Portugal . He retired from the U . S . Navy on November 1 , 1972 as a full admiral . Post - military career . After retiring , he lived near Leesburg , Virginia until January 1977 , continuing to serve as a member of the Secretary of the Navy ' s Advisory Board on Education and Training , and as a member of the Board of Advisors to the President , U . S . Naval War College in Newport , Rhode Island . He eventually moved to Coronado , California . He became a member of the Board of Trustees of the San Diego Museum of Art in 1981 , and in 1984 , he was elected as a member of France ' s Académie de Marine and also was named a Kentucky colonel . He died of cancer on June 27 , 1994 , at the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla , California .