Albert W . Grant Albert Weston Grant ( April 14 , 1856 – September 30 , 1930 ) was an admiral of the United States Navy during World War I . Biography . Grant was born on April 14 , 1856 at East Benton , Maine . He grew up at Stevens Point , Wisconsin , with his pioneer family and won a competitive appointment to the United States Naval Academy , from which he graduated on June 20 , 1877 . Following service in , , , , and , he served ashore at the Norfolk Navy Yard , received torpedo training , and served briefly at the Naval War College . Duty in , , , and preceded his return to Norfolk to supervise major repairs to " Pensacola " which entailed pioneer work in applying electricity to warships and then reported to . On May 9 , 1893 , his commission as a lieutenant reached him while he was serving in that gunboat . A tour in cruiser ended in the summer of 1894 when Grant was ordered back to the Naval Academy for duty as an instructor . Detached some three years later , he returned to sea in and served off the coast of Cuba in during the Spanish – American War . Transferred to on September 8 , 1898 , Grant was serving in her when promoted to lieutenant commander on July 1 , 1900 , a month before orders sent him back to the Academy for two more years as an instructor . Three years of service in the Far East followed — as executive officer of and then as commanding officer of that battleship — before he returned to Annapolis where he was promoted to commander and placed in charge of the Seamanship Department . During this assignment , he prepared a study of naval tactics , " The School of the Ship " , which became a standard textbook . On July 22 , 1907 , Grant reported to the Naval War College for instruction and , upon completing the course in the autumn , assumed command of the , which was the fuel tender to the Great White Fleet ' s destroyer flotilla . Grant took the " Arethusa " around Cape Horn to the Pacific . Detached on the last day of March 1908 , he embarked in as chief of staff to the Commander of the Atlantic Fleet . During that tour of duty , he was promoted to captain on July 1 , 1909 . He relinquished his post as chief of staff on October 26 , 1909 , but remained in " Connecticut " as her commanding officer . Grant became commandant of the Philadelphia Navy Yard on March 21 , 1910 and simultaneously took command of the 4th Naval District . Two years later , he became head of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet . Command of the new battleship came in 1913 and command of Submarine Flotilla , Atlantic Fleet , followed two years later . In the summer of 1917 — some three months after the United States entered World War I — Grant took over Battleship Force 1 , Atlantic Fleet , with additional duty in command of Squadron 2 and Division 4 . This position gave him the rank of vice admiral . December 1918 brought him command of the Atlantic Fleet . The following spring , he became commandant of the Washington Navy Yard and superintendent of the Naval Gun Factory . Retired on April 6 , 1920 , Vice Admiral Grant died in Philadelphia on September 30 , 1930 . Vice Admiral Grant ' s great - great - grandson , LT Richard Weston Grant III , is a graduate of the class of 2009 from the United States Naval Academy . Namesake . In 1943 , the destroyer was named in honor of Admiral Grant , sponsored by his granddaughter , Miss Nell Preston Grant . References .