- Lucien Young
Lucien Young (
31 March 1852 –2 October 1912 ) was an admiral of theUnited States Navy . His active-duty career included service in theSpanish-American War .Early life and career
Young was born in Lexington,
Kentucky , on31 March 1852 . He was appointed amidshipman on21 June 1869 and served in the practice ships "Dale", "Savannah", and "Constellation" before graduating from theUnited States Naval Academy on31 May 1873 .Ordered to "Alaska" on
23 July 1873 , Young, as a passed midshipman, was commended for extraordinary heroism when he saved the life of a seaman who had been knocked overboard.Young was detached from "Alaska" at
Lisbon ,Portugal , and soon joined "Hartford". Commissioned ensign on16 July 1874 , he joined "Powhatan"—on the North Atlantic Station—on10 December of the following year.Wreck of the USS "Huron"
Subsequently ordered to USS "Huron", he served in that ship until her tragic grounding off Nags Head, N.C., on
24 November 1877 .The ship, en route to
Cuba n waters for survey duty, foundered shortly after 01:00 on the 24th. Ensign Young and an enlisted man—Seaman Antonio Williams—struggled ashore through the tumbling surf and gained the beach. Not receiving much assistance from an apparently apathetic group of bystanders, Young sent a horseman off at a gallop for a life-saving depot seven miles away while he, himself, although bruised and barefoot, walked four miles to yet another station, and, apparently finding it unmanned, broke in and got out mortar lines and powder for aLyle gun .The sheriff of the locality then took Williams and Young to a point abreast the wreck. By the time they arrived, however, the 34 survivors had already reached shore.
For his indefatigable efforts, Young received a commendation from the Secretary of the Navy; was awarded a
gold medal by act of Congress from the Life-Saving service of the United States; was made an honorary member of the Kentucky legislature; and received advancement to the rate of master.ea and shore-based assignments, 1870s-1880s
Ordered to "Portsmouth" on
17 March 1878 , he arrived inLe Havre ,France , in time to take charge of a detail of men to serve at theUniversal Exposition inParis , France. Following that duty, he served in "Portsmouth" with the Training Squadron until he was detached from that ship on5 April 1880 .Young's next tour of duty was ashore, in the
Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting ; and, while there, he served for a time as naval aide to the Secretary of the Navy. Master Young then served successive tours of sea duty in the monitor "Montauk" and the training ship "Minnesota". Next came service as executive officer of "Onward" and, finally, a tour holding the same office in "Shenandoah". While in the latter, Young took part in the landings inPanama to protect American interests in the spring of 1885.A series of assignments ashore followed: Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, R.I.; at the
Naval War College at Newport; at theBureau of Navigation , and at the office ofNaval War Records —the activity then compiling the monumental documentary collection, the "Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies".Young next returned to sea, serving successive tours in "Detroit", "Boston", "Yorktown", and "Alert".
panish-American War
Given command of "Hist", Lieutenant Young placed that ship in commission and, during the
Spanish-American War , took part in two engagements offManzanillo, Cuba , and in the cutting of the cable between Cape Cruz and Manzanillo from late June 1898 to mid-August. Relieved of command of "Hist" in February 1899, Young received promotion to lieutenant commander on3 March and became Captain of the Port ofHavana on22 August of the same year. In the spring of 1900, he became Commandant, Naval Station, Havana.Explosion of the USS "Bennington"
Following his duty in Cuba, Young became
lighthouse inspector in the 9th Naval District and served in that capacity into 1904. In March 1904, he was given command of "Bennington" (Gunboat No. 4) and was in command of that ship at the time of her boiler explosion in the summer of the following year. AtSan Diego on21 July 1905 , "Bennington" was preparing to get underway for sea; Commander Young and the ship's surgeon, F. E. Peck, were returning to the ship in a boat and were not far from the anchorage when the explosion occurred at 10:30. Young hurried back to the ship, took command, ordered her watertight compartments closed and her magazines flooded, and then secured the services of an Armytugboat nearby. For this accident, he wascourtmartial ed, convicted and censured for "remissness in performance". More than 60 died in the blast.New International Encyclopedia . He was later reprimanded by the Secretary of the Navy for verbally abusing a fellow officer who testified in the matter. Young’s Navy personnel records reveal that the Secretary of the Navy reprimanded Young for a public verbal dispute with a Lt. Commander Bartlett who had testified in the proceeding. Young, on a public pier, called Bartlett a "liar and a perjurer". The Secretary of the Navy labeled Young’s actions as "grossly insulting to a brother officer" and that to Young there was "only one course available" a "full, frank, and manly apology for a display of temper." Which, after a delay of several days, Young did. His Naval records show another censure for "misleading and inaccurate reporting" regarding the boilers of the USS Vicksburg in 1909. No explosion resulted simply several days of delay.Later assignments
Young later was assigned to duty at the Mare Island Navy Yard and was there at the time of the San Francisco earthquake and fire, and did much relief work.
New International Encyclopedia Ultimately he became Captain of the Yard there before becoming Commandant of the Naval Station, Pensacola, and of the 8th Naval District. His area of command was later extended to include the 7th Naval District. He was appointed Rear Admiral in 1910.Last years and legacy
Young’s Navy personnel records reveal an instance of apparent
anti-Semitism . Young failed to pay a small [$7} tailoring bill. The tailor, one Frank Copper of Vallejo, California wrote to the Secretary of the Navy complaining after several years of non-payment. The SecNav forwarded the letter to Young for a response. In his written response Young wrote that he had made inquiry in "Vallejo as to who this man [Copper] was, and was informed he was a weak and cranky Jew and that he ran a small hat store in town; that upon two occasions his shop was burned down under suspicious circumstances." Young further went on, in response to the SecNav’s request that his response be furnished to Copper wrote for "me now to furnish him with a compulsory copy of this official endorsement, as directed in the 1st endorsement, for him to flaunt about his Hebrew friends, would be to him an excellent advertisement, and a decided humiliation to me."He died at
New York, N.Y. , on2 October 1912 .In 1942, the
destroyer USS "Young" (DD-580) was named in his honor.Works
* "Simple Elements of Navigation" (1898; second edition, 1898)
* "The Real Hawaii" (1899)References
External links
* [http://history.navy.mil/danfs/y1/young-ii.htm DANFS biography of Lucien Young]
* [http://history.navy.mil/photos/pers-us/uspers-xz/l-young.htm NHS biography of Lucien Young]
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