Daniel V . Gallery Rear Admiral Daniel Vincent Gallery ( July 10 , 1901 – January 16 , 1977 ) was an officer in the United States Navy who saw extensive action during World War II . He fought in the Battle of the Atlantic , his most notable achievement was the capture of the German submarine " U - 505 " on June 4 , 1944 . In the post - war era , he was a leading player in the so - called " Revolt of the Admirals " – the dispute between the Navy and the Air Force over whether the U . S . Armed Forces should emphasize aircraft carrier s or strategic bomber s . Gallery was also a prolific author of both fiction and non - fiction . Early life and career . In 1917 , at the age of sixteen , Gallery entered the U . S . Naval Academy at Annapolis , Maryland . He graduated a year early , in 1920 , and competed in the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp on the U . S . wrestling team . He had three younger brothers , all of whom had careers in the U . S . Navy . Two brothers , William O . Gallery and Philip D . Gallery , also rose to the rank of Rear Admiral . The fourth brother , John Ireland Gallery , was a Catholic Priest and Navy Chaplain . Dan Gallery ' s grandfather Daniel ( born about 1839 ) emigrated to the USA from Ennistymon , Co Clare , Ireland in the mid to late 1800s . Gallery was an early naval aviator . He flew seaplanes , torpedo plane s and amphibians . He won first place at the National Air Races in a race - tuned Douglas Devastator torpedo plane in the late 1930s . In 1941 , while the U . S . was still neutral , he was assigned as the Naval Attaché at the U . S . Embassy in Great Britain . While in Britain , he earned his flight pay by ferrying Spitfire s from the factory to RAF aerodromes . He liked to claim that he was the only U . S . Navy aviator who flew Spitfires during the Battle of Britain – but they were unarmed . World War II . In 1942 , Gallery took command of the Fleet Air Base in Reykjavík , Iceland , where he was awarded the Bronze Star for his actions against German submarines . It was there that he first conceived his plan to capture a U - boat . In 1943 , Gallery was appointed commander of the escort carrier , which he commissioned . In January 1944 he commanded antisubmarine Task Group 21 . 12 ( TG 21 . 12 ) out of Norfolk , Virginia , with " Guadalcanal " as the flagship . TG 21 . 12 sank the German submarine " U - 544 " . In March 1944 Task Group 22 . 3 was formed with " Guadalcanal " as the flagship . On this cruise Gallery pioneered 24 - hour flight operations from escort carriers ( by this time , U - boats were remaining submerged during daylight to avoid carrier - based aircraft ) . On April 9 , the task group sank " U - 515 " ( commanded by the U - boat ace " Kapitänleutnant " Werner Henke ) . After a long battle the submarine was forced to the surface among the attacking ships and the surviving crew abandoned ship . The deserted " U - 515 " was hammered by rockets and gunfire before she finally sank . Captain Gallery saw that this would have been a perfect opportunity to capture the vessel . He decided to be ready the next time such an opportunity presented itself . The next night aircraft from the task group caught " U - 68 " on the surface , in broad moonlight , and sank her with one survivor , a lookout caught on - deck when the U - boat crash dived . On the next cruise of TG 22 . 3 , Captain Gallery took the unusual step of forming boarding parties , in case of another chance to capture a U - boat arose . On June 4 , 1944 , the task group crossed paths with " U - 505 " off the coast of Africa . " U - 505 " was spotted running on the surface by two F4F Wildcat fighters from " Guadalcanal " . Her captain , " Oberleutnant " Harald Lange , dived the boat to avoid the fighters . But they could see the submerged submarine and vectored destroyers onto her track . The experienced antisubmarine warfare team laid down patterns of depth charges that shook " U - 505 " up badly , popping relief valves and breaking gaskets , resulting in water sprays in her engine room . Based on reports from the engine room , the captain believed his boat to be heavily damaged and ordered the crew to abandon ship , which was done so hastily that full scuttling measures were not completed . Captain Gallery ' s boarding party from the destroyer escort was ordered to board the foundering submarine and if possible capture her . The destroyers in range used their . 50 caliber and 20 mm antiaircraft guns to chase the Germans off the vessel so the boarding party could get onto her . They replaced the cover of the sea strainer , thus keeping the U - boat from sinking immediately . The boarders retrieved the submarine ' s Enigma coding machine and current code books . ( This was a primary goal of the mission because it would enable the codebreakers in Tenth Fleet to read German signals immediately , without having to break the codes first ) . They got her under control , making " U - 505 " the first foreign man - of - war captured in battle on the high seas by the U . S . Navy since the War of 1812 . This incident was the last time that the order " Away All Boarders ! " was given by a U . S . Navy captain . Lieutenant Albert David , who led the boarding party , received the Medal of Honor for his courage in boarding a foundering submarine that presumably had scuttling charges set to explode – the only Medal of Honor awarded in the Atlantic Fleet during World War II . Task Group 22 . 3 was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation and Captain Gallery received the Distinguished Service Medal for capturing " U - 505 " . He also received a blistering dressing - down from Admiral Ernest J . King , Chief of Naval Operations . King pointed out that unless " U - 505 " s capture could be kept an absolute secret , the Germans would change their codes and change out the cipher wheels in the Enigma . Gallery managed to impress his crews with the vital importance of maintaining silence on the best sea story any of them would ever see . His success made the difference between his getting a medal or getting a court - martial . ( It is interesting that two noted naval historians , Samuel Eliot Morison and Clay Blair , Jr . are on opposite sides of Gallery ' s case . ) After the war , Admiral King personally approved the award of the Presidential Unit Citation to Task Group 22 . 3 for the capture of the U - boat . Toward the end of World War II Captain Gallery was given command of the aircraft carrier . Post - World War II service . After promotion to rear admiral he became Assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations . He commanded Carrier Division Six during the Korean War . The " Revolt of the Admirals " . The so - called " Revolt of the Admirals " broke out during Louis Johnson ' s tenure as Secretary of Defense . Johnson planned to scrap the carrier fleet , merge the Marine Corps into the Army , and reduce the Navy to a convoy - escort force . Gallery wrote a series of articles for " The Saturday Evening Post " fiercely criticizing these plans . The final article , " Don ' t Let Them Scuttle the Navy ! " was so inflammatory that Gallery barely escaped court - martial for insubordination . Even so , the episode cost Gallery his third star . It effectively finished his career , though he served twelve more years on active duty . At the time of his retirement , he was second in seniority on the Rear Admirals ' List . Command of the Tenth Naval District . Admiral Gallery ' s final command was the Tenth Naval District in San Juan , Puerto Rico , from December 1956 to July 1960 . During this command , with the help of the Rotary and Lions clubs , he established the first Little Leagues in Puerto Rico . It was also there that he first heard the steel bands of Trinidad . He was so taken by the sound that he invested $ 120 in steel drums for his command ' s Navy band . He established the first all - American and the only military steel band in 1957 . The Tenth Naval District Steel Band – or Admiral Dan ' s Pandemoniacs , as they called themselves – became the U . S . Navy Steel Band and toured the world as ambassadors of the U . S . Navy until 1999 . Admiral Gallery was forced to retire from the Navy in 1960 when he was found medically unfit for service . Shortly before Gallery ' s retirement , the custom of " tombstone promotion " was abolished . So he was one of the few Rear Admirals of his era to be retired as only a Rear Admiral . Most of his contemporaries retired as Vice Admirals . He died at the Bethesda Naval Medical Center on January 16 , 1977 , at the age of 75 . He was buried with full military honors in Section 3 of Arlington National Cemetery , adjacent to two of his brothers . Awards and honors . The guided - missile frigate was named for Daniel V . Gallery and two of his brothers , Rear Admiral William O . Gallery and Rear Admiral Phillip D . Gallery . Gallery Park in Glenview , Illinois ( where he commanded the Naval Air Reserve Training forces at the Naval Air Station Glenview from 1952 to 1954 ) , is named after him . The park is located at the former site of the Naval Air Station . Literary career . Daniel Gallery was an author on naval topics , writing ten books and a number of magazine articles and short stories . His fiction books are humorous except " The Brink " , which is a dramatic novel about the United States and the Soviet Union set aboard a Polaris missile submarine .