Morton C. Mumma

Rear Admiral Morton Claire Mumma was a senior officer in the United States Navy.

He was born on 24 August 1904 at Manila, Philippine Islands. Attending the United States Naval Academy, he graduated in the class of 1930.

One of his first commands was the submarine USS S-43 from 1935 until 1938. Original based at Pearl Harbor, the submarine relocated to Coco Solo, in the Panama Canal Zone, in 1936.

He was awarded the Navy Cross on 13 December 1941 during World War II, while serving aboard USS Sailfish, after making contact with two Japanese destroyers, and bravely began a submerged attack; the destroyers detected her, dropping a couple of depth charges, while Sailfish fired two torpedoes. Despite a large explosion nearby, no damage was done, and the destroyers counterattacked with 18-20 depth charges.^[1]. The depth charging led Mumma to suffer a breakdown & he was relieved.

Later assigned to patrol boats, he became commander of PT boats in the South-West Pacific. Mort Bay, was named by Australian hydrographers in Commander Mumma's honour.

Citation

1. ^ Blair, p. 143

References

• This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.