Robert P . Briscoe Robert Pearce Briscoe ( February 19 , 1897 – October 14 , 1968 ) was an Admiral of the United States Navy . He commanded two ships , a destroyer squadron , and an amphibious group during World War II . He later served as Commander - in - Chief , Allied Forces Southern Europe , from 1956 to 1959 . He was a native of Centreville , Mississippi . Military career . World War I and between the wars . Admiral Briscoe graduated from the United States Naval Academy in June 1918 . During World War I he served on the battleship USS " Alabama " ( BB - 8 ) of the U . S . Atlantic Fleet and on the destroyer USS " Roe " ( DD - 24 ) , operating from Brest , France . At the end of hostilities , he made the first postwar Midshipmen cruise in the USS " Kearsarge " ( BB - 5 ) and in 1919 returned to destroyer duty as Engineer Officer of the USS " Humphreys " ( DD - 236 ) , stationed in Near East waters at Constantinople . During the Turko - Greek fighting in 1920 - 1921 , he commanded a naval landing force at Derindge , Turkey . After further destroyer duty in the USS " Flusser " ( DD - 289 ) and USS " Henderson " ( AP - 1 ) , and recruiting duty at Little Rock , Arkansas , he served as Senior Assistant Engineer of the battleship USS " West Virginia " ( BB - 48 ) from 1926 to 1929 , then returned to the Naval Academy as an instructor in Mechanical Engineering . From 1931 to 1933 he was on China Station , assigned first as Executive Officer of the USS " Edsall " ( DD - 219 ) , on Yangtze River patrol during the Japan ese occupation of Woosung and Manchuria , and later as Communication Officer of the USS " Houston " ( CA - 30 ) , flagship of the Commander in Chief , Asiatic Fleet . He again returned to the Naval Academy in June 1934 , and for three years served as head of the Department of Chemistry . Sea duty as navigator of the battleship " Mississippi " ( BB - 41 ) preceded a tour during the pre - war period as Assistant Director of the U . S . Naval Research Laboratory and Navy Department Liaison Officer with the National Defense Research Committee . He has been identified as one of the pioneers of modern electronics development in the Navy . World War II . In May 1942 , he assumed command of the USS " Prometheus " ( AR - 3 ) , a recommissioned World War I repair ship . Under his command , she joined the U . S . 3rd Fleet at Noumea , New Caledonia , where he was detached to command Destroyer Squadron 5 and operated as escort commander for Task Forces 67 , 68 and 70 . In the intervening periods when the battleships and cruisers were not at sea , Admiral Briscoe operated Commander Task Group 675 ( Cactus Striking Force ) in Guadalcanal waters . He was transferred to command of the USS " Denver " ( CL - 58 ) in July 1943 and was in command during the Northern Solomon Islands campaign . During a thirty six hour battle with Japanese naval forces , his ship assisted in the sinking of five enemy warships , damaging four others and routing the enemy ' s surface forces . His ship ' s guns had barely fired their last salvo when she was attacked by sixty - seven dive bomber s . Under his command , the ship downed seventeen enemy planes and thwarted the raid . He sailed the cruiser to the United States after she suffered severe battle damage off Rabaul in November 1943 . In February 1944 , he joined the staff of the Commander in Chief , U . S . Fleet , in Washington , D . C . , as head of New Developments , and with his promotion to flag rank in April 1945 , assumed command of Amphibious Group 14 . Victory over Japan Day found him in Manila , working on plans for the invasion of the Japanese homeland . Post - war . In September 1945 , he took command of the Operational Development Force , Atlantic Fleet with headquarters at Norfolk , Virginia . After two years there , and a tour of duty as Assistant Chief of Naval Operations ( Readiness ) , he became Commander Amphibious Force , Atlantic Fleet , on November 1 , 1950 . Ordered in January 1952 to command the U . S . 7th Fleet in Korean waters , he retained this command until designated Commander Naval Forces , Far East , in June of that year . During this tenure , he recommended an amphibious feint to draw North Korean combatants from their dug - in front line positions to cover potential landing zones . This resulted in a significant shift of troop concentrations by enemy forces over a period of three months . Two years later , he reported as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations , for Fleet Operations and Readiness , and on 2 July 1956 , became Commander in Chief , Allied Forces , Southern Europe . Civilian life . On 1 January 1959 , he was transferred to the Retired List of the United States Navy . He died on 14 October 1968 in Liberty , Mississippi . He was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery . Namesake . USS " Briscoe " ( DD - 977 ) , a Spruance class destroyer , was named in his honor .