Robert H . Wyman Rear Admiral Robert H . Wyman ( 12 July 1822 — 2 December 1882 ) was an officer in the U . S . Navy . Early career . Wyman was born at Portsmouth , New Hampshire . He was appointed midshipman on 11 March 1837 and served initially in the razee on the Brazil station . After sea duty in the sloops - of - war and — the latter commanded by his father — he was appointed passed midshipman in 1843 . Service in the Mexican - American War . Over the next three years , Wyman served in South American waters in the schooner , the brig , and the frigate before participating in the Mexican - American War in Commodore Conner ' s Home Squadron — first in the steamer and later in the brig and the sloop . During that time , he took part in the expeditions against Tampico during November 1864 and Veracruz in March 1847 . Passed Midshipman , Wyman spent a tour of duty ashore at the Naval Observatory , Washington , D . C . , before reporting to the receiving ship at Boston , Massachusetts , and subsequently being promoted to lieutenant on 16 July 1850 . Over the next decade , he served at sea ; and the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861 found him in command of on the Mediterranean Station . Service in the American Civil War . Early in July , soon after he brought that steam sloop - of - war home for wartime duty , he took command of . In September , Wyman assumed command of . That ship , as part of the Potomac River Flotilla , helped to keep open the Union ' s vital waterway communications with Washington , D . C . , while cutting off Southern forces from their sympathizers in southern Maryland . Commanding the steamer from October 1861 , Wyman took part in Flag Officer DuPont ' s capture of the key seaport of Port Royal , South Carolina . After that operation , Wyman returned north and took command of the Potomac River Flotilla on 6 December 1861 . He held this important post until the end of June 1862 . During his time in the Potomac , he was active in maintaining Union control of that vital river and of much of the Rappahannock during General McClellan ' s Peninsular Campaign . His ships destroyed Southern bridges , captured nine Confederate ships , and burned 40 schooner s . Promoted to commander on 16 July 1862 , Wyman was ordered to command the gunboat on the James River . Transferred to the West Indian Squadron the following October , he commanded the steam sloop and the paddle steamer , and captured the blockade runners and " Lizzie " . During the last two years of the Civil War , Wyman served on special duty in the Navy Department in Washington , D . C . Later career . After the Civil War , Wyman commanded , the flagship for the European Squadron . He was promoted to captain on 25 July 1866 and took command of the steam sloop the following year . After that tour of sea duty , Wyman headed the Navy ' s Hydrographic Office for eight years , receiving promotions to commodore on 19 July 1872 and to rear admiral on 26 April 1878 . His leadership of the Hydrographic Office proved to be of great importance to the Navy and seafaring men in general . Through the Civil War , the United States Navy had relied upon foreign sources — principally British — for their navigational charts , doing little of their own hydrographic work . Under Wyman ' s direction , the office began a systematic and sustained program of worldwide charting and surveying , the precursor of the navy ' s present globe - girdling oceanographic research effort . Following his promotion to flag rank in the spring of 1878 , Wyman was given command of the North Atlantic Squadron . He subsequently became chairman of the Lighthouse Board . Rear Admiral Wyman died in Washington , D . C . , on 2 December 1882 . Namesake . The United States Navy ship , launched on 30 October 1969 , was named in his honor .