Daniel E . Barbey Vice Admiral Daniel Edward Barbey ( 23 December 1889 – 11 March 1969 ) was an officer in the United States Navy who served in World War I and World War II . A graduate of the Naval Academy , he participated in the 1912 United States occupation of Nicaragua and the 1915 United States occupation of Veracruz . While serving with the War Plans Section of the Bureau of Navigation in Washington , D . C . between the World Wars , developed an interest in amphibious warfare . In 1940 he produced " Fleet Training Publication 167 – Landing Operations Doctrine , United States Navy " , which would become the Navy ' s " bible " of amphibious operations , and would remain in use throughout World War II . As commander Amphibious Force , Atlantic Fleet in 1940 and 1941 he supervised amphibious training and conducted Fleet Landing Exercises . In May 1942 , Barbey was appointed to organize a new Amphibious Warfare Section within the Navy Department , which was charged with responsibility for the coordination of amphibious training and the development and production of the new generation of landing craft . In January 1943 he assumed command of Amphibious Force , Southwest Pacific Force , which became the VII Amphibious Force . He planned and carried out 56 amphibious assaults in the Southwest Pacific Area between September 1943 and July 1945 . After the war , he commanded the Seventh Fleet and Fourth Fleet . World War I . Daniel Edward Barbey was born in Portland , Oregon on 23 December 1889 . He graduated from the Naval Academy and was commissioned an ensign in June 1912 . His first assignment was aboard the armored cruiser , which participated in the 1912 United States occupation of Nicaragua . In May 1914 he was transferred to the destroyer as engineering officer , participating in the United States occupation of Veracruz . He remained on " Lawrence " , where he was promoted to lieutenant ( junior grade ) on 8 June 1915 , serving first as engineering officer , and later as executive officer and commanding officer . In October 1916 he became engineering officer of the gunboat , serving in Central American and Mexico waters . He received a Letter of Commendation from the Secretary of the Navy for the ship ' s service during the Mexican Revolution . Barbey was involved in the fitting out of the destroyer from December 1917 to May 1918 , becoming its executive officer when it was commissioned on 24 May . Under an accelerated wartime promotion system , he was promoted to Lieutenant on 8 June 1918 . Between the wars . Barbey was assigned to the Naval Base at Cardiff , Wales in January 1919 , becoming the Naval Port Officer at Cardiff from July to August 1919 , when he was transferred to the U . S . Naval Headquarters in London . In November 1919 he became Naval Port Officer , Constantinople , Turkey . In October 1920 , he also became operations officer and flag secretary to Rear Admiral Mark L . Bristol , Commander U . S . Naval Detachment in Turkish Waters and High Commissioner to Turkey . Barbey was ceased to be Naval Port Officer in July 1921 , but continued as flag secretary to Admiral Bristol . During this time , Barbey served as the U . S . delegate on the Allied Commission for the Control of Trade with Turkey and as an observer with the White Army in the Crimea . Returning to the U . S . in February 1922 , he served briefly on the cargo ship before becoming assistant engineering officer of the battleship in the Pacific . He was promoted to lieutenant commander on 15 October 1922 . Continuing the pattern of alternating duty afloat and ashore , he then spent two years as Officer in Charge of the Portland Navy Recruiting Station , before returning to the Atlantic as engineering officer of the light cruiser in June 1925 . From February 1927 to June 1928 , he was executive officer of the oil tanker . He then spent the next three years as aide to the Superintendent of the U . S . Naval Academy , Rear Admiral Samuel S . Robison . From June 1931 to June 1933 he commanded the destroyer . He then spent two years as an inspector of ordnance at the Mare Island Naval Ammunition Depot in California , where he was promoted to the rank of commander in September 1933 . In February 1935 , he was posted to the battleship as damage control officer . He briefly commanded the before becoming Commander of Destroyer Division 17 in the Pacific . In June 1937 Barbey was assigned to War Plans Section of the Bureau of Navigation in Washington , D . C . . During this assignment , he worked on mobilization plans , and developed an interest in amphibious warfare from studying reports of Japanese amphibious operations in the Second Sino - Japanese War . He was particularly intrigued by photographs of special landing craft with hinged bow ramps . In 1940 he produced " Fleet Training Publication 167 – Landing Operations Doctrine , United States Navy " ( FTP 167 ) . This would become the Navy ' s " bible " of amphibious operations , and would remain in use throughout World War II . He was promoted to captain in February 1940 . World War II . Amphibious warfare . Barbey assumed command of in the Pacific but in January 1941 he returned to the Atlantic to become Chief of Staff to Rear Admiral Randall Jacobs , Commander Service Force , Atlantic Fleet . This included the embryo Amphibious Force , Atlantic Fleet . In 1940 and 1941 he supervised the amphibious training of the 1st Marine Division and the 1st Infantry Division , conducting Fleet Landing Exercises along the coast of North Carolina . In May 1942 , Admiral Ernest King , Commander in Chief U . S . Fleet appointed Barbey to organize a new Amphibious Warfare Section within the Navy Department . Barbey was charged with responsibility for the coordination of amphibious training and the burgeoning amphibious craft construction program . He became involved with the development and production of the new generation of landing craft . He was promoted to the rank of rear admiral in December 1942 . On 8 January 1943 Barbey assumed command of Amphibious Force , Southwest Pacific Force . He established his headquarters aboard the attack transport ( APA ) on the Brisbane River and set about building up his small training command into a major amphibious force capable of carrying out the strategy of the Supreme Commander , Southwest Pacific Area ( SWPA ) , General Douglas MacArthur , for an amphibious advance from Australia to the Philippines . On 15 March 1943 , " by a stroke of Admiral King ' s pen , " the Southwest Pacific Force became the Seventh Fleet and its Amphibious Force became the VII Amphibious Force . On meeting Barbey for the first time , MacArthur had only one question : " are you a lucky officer ? " The VII Amphibious Force inherited the Royal Australian Navy amphibious training center HMAS Assault at Port Stephens , New South Wales and a Combined Training School at Bribie Island and nearby Toorbul Point in Queensland . There was only one APA , the , which was in a poor state of repair and trailed an oil slick wherever it went , precluding its use in a combat zone , but VII Amphibious Force had three Australian assault transports , known as Landing Ships , Infantry ( LSI ) : , and . For the moment , they were too valuable to risk in forward areas . They were augmented by a flotilla each of the new beaching craft , Landing Ships , Tank ( LST ) , Landing Craft , Infantry ( LCI ) and Landing Craft , Tank ( LCT ) . There were also a small number of high speed transports ( APD ) . MacArthur directed that the two navies would use a common doctrine , FTP 167 . However , this was written with the assumption that APDs would be available and carry beach parties . Doctrine therefore required modification from the start . New Guinea campaign . Operation Chronicle , the landings at Kiriwina and Woodlark Island s , was the VII Amphibious Force ' s first operation , presented no great difficulty as the islands were known to be unoccupied . However half the assault troops experienced seasickness , problems were encountered with clearing the sand bar at the entrance to Guasopa Harbor , and Barbey ' s decision to land at night and withdraw before dawn in order to avoid encountering Japanese aircraft highlighted the inexperience of his crews and deficiencies in their training . Unloading activities on the coral - fringed Kiriwina dragged on for a fortnight . For the landing at Lae , Barbey elected to make a night approach and a dawn landing . As the LCIs approached the beach , they were set upon by three Mitsubishi G4M " Betty " bombers which score a bomb hit and two near misses on USS " LCI - 339 " . Badly damaged and riddled by strafing bullets and fragments , the ship was beached but became a total loss . That afternoon , six LSTs were attacked by a force of about 80 Japanese aircraft . Some 48 Lockheed P - 38 Lightning s were vectored to assist but USS " LST - 471 " and USS " LST - 473 " were hit , killing 57 crewmen and Australian troops . A few weeks later Barbey was called upon to make a landing at Finschhafen . Not confident of the promised air support , Barbey decided to make another night landing , with the landing ships clearing the beach before dawn . Major General George Wootten , the commander of the assault troops , doubted that the VII Amphibious Force could find the correct beach in the dark , and was proven correct by events ; the VII Amphibious Force was not yet proficient enough to conduct night landings . Fortunately , this time Japanese air attacks failed to sink or damage any amphibious ships . For his part in the landings at Lae and Finschhafen , Barbey was awarded the Navy Cross . His citation read : The Battle of Arawe and the Battle of Cape Gloucester involved a number of " firsts " for the VII Amphibious Force . It marked the first use of an Australian LSI , , in combat , and the first appearance in SWPA of a Landing Ship , Dock ( LSD ) , . The LSD was used to carry amtrac s , also making their debut in SWPA , which were necessary to cross the coral reef s . Fire support was provided by two LCIs equipped with rockets . This proved so successful that Barbey had another six modified for the purpose . Casualties were evacuated using specially modified LCTs and LSTS equipped as hospital ships . For the first time , Beach Party 1 participated , providing a fully trained naval beach party for the first time . Contrary to doctrine , it was not affiliated with a particular APA . The Arawe operation also saw the first use of another innovation of Barbey ' s , the landing craft control officers . However , an attempt to land a force in rubber boats was a total failure , and was not repeated . Afterward , Barbey received his first properly equipped amphibious command ship , the . He also acquired an experienced deputy in Rear Admiral William M . Fechteler . Fechteler commanded the assault on the Admiralty Islands , in which APDs were employed in order to meet the Army ' s requirement for a reconnaissance in force . Western New Guinea campaign . During Operations Reckless and Persecution , Barbey personally directed the landing at Tanahmerah Bay . The beaches there proved to be unsuitable , and Barbey diverted the follow - up forces to Humboldt Bay . MacArthur told war correspondent Frazier Hunt that Barbey was " just about the number one amphibious commander in the world , " but Admiral Chester Nimitz was more critical . VII Amphibious Force carried nearly 80 , 000 personnel , 50 , 000 tons ( 56 , 000 m ) of stores and 3 , 000 vehicles to the area but the resulting accumulation of stores on and immediately behind the beach included dumps in which fuel and ammunition were stored together . A lone Japanese aircraft bombed a dump and set off fires and explosions . Twenty men were killed and over a hundred wounded , and twelve LST loads of stores were destroyed . Meanwhile three Japanese bombers attacked and torpedoed the cargo ship . The ship was severely damaged and towed back to Finschhafen with half its cargo still on board . For these operations , Barbey was awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal . His citation read : Philippines campaign . Barbey paid a visit to Washington , D . C . in June 1944 to discuss his needs but his trip was mistimed , for the Joint Chiefs of Staff had left for Europe to observe the Invasion of Normandy and Barbey had to wait for Admiral King to return . In their discussions , King emphasised that it was his intention that MacArthur ' s advance would proceed no further than Mindanao . This was scuttled in September 1944 by his own admirals , who recommended a descent on Leyte . By July enough amphibious ships had arrived in SWPA to allow Barbey to divide the VII Amphibious Force . Fetchteler assumed command of Amphibious Group 8 , while Amphibious Group 9 was formed under Rear Admiral Arthur D . Struble . In 1945 , a third group , Amphibious Group 6 , was formed under Rear Admiral Forrest B . Royal . For the invasion of Leyte , MacArthur and his naval commander , Vice Admiral Thomas C . Kinkaid expected that Barbey would continue in command of the amphibious forces , but Nimitz preferred the commander of the III Amphibious Force , Vice Admiral Theodore S . Wilkinson , who was senior and in Nimitz ' s opinion , more experienced . In the end , a compromise was reached , with both amphibious forces participating , and Kinkaid in overall command . For his part , Barbey was awarded a second Navy Distinguished Service Medal . His citation read : Promoted to vice admiral on 9 December 1944 , Barbey directed 30 more assaults in 1945 , mostly in the southern Philippines and Borneo . He conducted the last amphibious operation of the war , the landings at Balikpapan , Borneo on 1 July 1945 . In all , " Uncle Dan " , as he was known , planned and conducted 56 amphibious operations , landing more than one million Australian and American soldiers and marines . For his wartime service in the Southwest Pacific , the U . S . Army awarded Barbey the Army Distinguished Service Medal . On Australia Day in 1948 the Australian government honored him with an honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire , which was presented at the Australian embassy in Washington by Norman Makin , the Australian Ambassador to the United States . Post - war . After the war , Barbey replaced Kinkaid as commander of the Seventh Fleet . He continued the task of landing occupation forces in South Korea and North China . While providing training , transportation and support to the Chinese Nationalist Party forces , he attempted to prevent his own forces from becoming embroiled in the Chinese Civil War , which was engulfing North China . In March 1946 he became Commander Amphibious Force , Atlantic Fleet . In September he became commander of the Fourth Fleet . He briefly returned to the Far East in February 1947 as Chairman of the Joint Military Board on fact - finding mission to evaluate strategic requirements there . He returned to the U . S . in March to become Commandant of the 10th Naval District and commander of the Caribbean Sea Frontier from 1 May 1947 until 10 October 1950 . His final assignment was as Commandant of the 13th Naval District . He retired as a vice admiral on 30 June 1951 . Retirement and last years . In retirement , Barbey published his memoirs of his wartime service as " MacArthur ' s Amphibious Navy " in 1969 . He died at the Naval Hospital in Bremerton , Washington on 11 March 1969 . His papers are in the Naval Historical Center at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington , D . C . The Navy named a , in his honor , which was launched at the Avondale Shipyard s in Westwego , Louisiana by his widow on 4 December 1971 . Decorations . Vice Admiral Daniel E . Barbey´s ribbon bar :