Gilbert Jonathan Rowcliff Rear Admiral Gilbert Jonathan Rowcliff ( July 22 , 1881 – July 15 , 1963 ) was an officer of the United States Navy during the First World War and the Second World War . After early service in the Far East he specialised in gunnery , serving in that capacity on many US Navy capital ships . During World War I he served with the US Naval Force sent to join the British Grand Fleet . After the war he took command of multiple heavy units of the US fleet , before being appointed Judge Advocate General of the Navy in 1936 . Thereafter he commanded various cruiser squadrons of the Atlantic Fleet before his retirement at the end of World War II . Early life and career . Rowcliff was born in Peoria , Illinois . He attended public school in Peoria before his appointment to the United States Naval Academy from Illinois in 1896 . While a Midshipman he took an active part in fencing and intercollegiate tournaments which were being developed at that time . Graduated in May , 1902 , he served the two years at sea which were then required by law before commissioning and was commissioned Ensign in May 1904 . Rowcliff was subsequently promoted as follows : Lieutenant ( both grades ) May 2 , 1907 ; Lieutenant Commander , March 22 , 1915 ; Commander , July 1 , 1919 ; Captain , February 23 , 1925 ; and Rear Admiral , January 1 , 1936 . He was transferred to the Retired List of the Navy in that rank on August 1 , 1945 . After graduation in May , 1902 , he was ordered to the Asiatic Station , where he joined the gunboat , a unit of the Asiatic Fleet on patrol duty in Chinese waters . When the " Wilmington " was placed out of commission on June 30 , 1904 , at Cavite in the Philippines , he was transferred to the , a coast battleship on duty in Pacific and Asiatic waters , and served in that vessel until her decommissioning in May 1906 . Atlantic Fleet . He returned to the United States in June 1906 for duty in the Presidential yacht , and was aboard when President Theodore Roosevelt reviewed the Battleship Squadron on its return from a round - the - world cruise in 1909 . He had additional duty from November 1908 until October 1910 as Naval Aide at the White House , serving both Presidents Roosevelt and William Howard Taft . In October 1910 he joined the , and served as Ordnance Officer of that battleship from May to July 1911 . He was then assigned duty as Division Ordnance Officer , still attached to the " Virginia " , Flagship of the Fourth Division , later with the Third Division , Atlantic Fleet . Detached from the " Virginia " In January 1914 , he assisted in fitting out the , and served as Ordnance Officer of that battleship from her commissioning , April 15 , 1914 , until June 1916 . He was next assigned duty as Aide on the staff of Commander , Second in Command , Atlantic Fleet , and to such gunnery duties as assigned and in that capacity served on the staff of Vice Admiral DeWitt Coffman , USN , Commander , Battleship Force , Atlantic Fleet flagship , later . In December 1916 he had additional duty as a member of the board which conducted battery tests of the . In January 1917 he was assigned temporary duty as senior member of the board appointed for the purpose of studying torpedo policy for the Navy , and in April of that year was a member of the board conducting experimental firing of the 3 - gun turrets on the " Arizona " . He then returned to the " Wyoming " , to continue duty on the staff of Commander Battleship Force , Atlantic Fleet , and in July 1917 , when Vice Admiral Coffman was designated Commander , Battleship Force 2 , he ( then a Lieutenant Commander ) continued to serve as Aide on his staff . In April 1918 he had temporary additional duty in Rosyth , Scotland , in connection with the storing of reserve ammunition for Battleship Division 9 . For World War I service he was awarded the Navy Cross with the following citation : In September and October 1918 , shortly before the Armistice , he reported to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations , Navy Department , Washington , D . C . On October 27 , 1918 , he became Executive Officer in the " New York " , and served in that capacity until April 1919 , and was present when the German High Seas Fleet surrendered to the British Fleet at the Firth of Forth , on November 21 , 1918 . He was also on board when the " New York " was host to King George V of Great Britain and the Prince of Wales on November 3 ; and Crown Prince Hirohito , later Emperor of Japan and his staff on November 20 , all of whom were official guests of the ship . From May 1919 until May 1920 , he was a student at the Naval War College , Newport , Rhode Island . Completing the senior course , he served in the Division of War Plans , and later the Budget Section of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations , Navy Department , Washington , D . C . , with additional duty in May 1921 as a member of the board for the Development of the Navy Yard Plans . In December 1922 he returned to sea as Division Commander , with Destroyer Squadrons , Atlantic Fleet , with additional duty as Commander of the Division flagship , the later the . Higher Command . In November 1923 he returned to the Navy Department for duty on the Staff of Vice Admiral Robert E . Coontz , USN , Commander in Chief , U . S . Fleet , as Fleet Material Officer and Fleet Tactical Officer . Detached from that assignment in June 1925 he was an instructor in the Department of Engineering and Aeronautics , at the Naval Academy , the three succeeding years . Returning to sea in July 1928 , then Captain Rowcliff , commanded the for two years , and from July 1930 until May 1933 had command of the Naval Training Station , Newport , Rhode Island , with additional duty in command of the , famous frigate attached to that training station . In June 1933 he assumed command of Destroyer Squadron Four , Battle Force , U . S . Fleet , and a year later returned to the Navy Department , to serve as Director of Naval Communications . In June 1936 he was promoted to Real Admiral and appointed Judge Advocate General of the Navy , a position he held for two years . Again at sea , from July 1938 until February 1941 , he served as Commander Cruisers , Scouting Force , with additional duty a Commander , Cruiser Division Five , , Flagship , and as Commander , Cruiser Division Four , , Flagship . In March 1941 he was designated a member of the Navy General Board . He served in that capacity throughout the World War II period , until his retirement on August 1 , 1945 . He continued active duty as Senior Member of the Board of Inspection and Survey , Pacific Coast Section , San Francisco , California , until December 8 , 1945 , at which time he was relieved of all active duty . Awards . In addition to the Navy Cross , Rear Admiral Rowcliff was awarded the Mexican Service Medal , the Spanish Campaign Medal , the World War I Victory Medal , and was entitled to wear the American Defense Service Medal , the American Campaign Medal , and the World War II Victory Medal . Mentions in popular culture . Rex Stout used Rowcliff , under whom he had at one time served and came to greatly dislike , as the model for Lieutenant George Rowcliff in the Nero Wolfe series of novels .