Franklin Van Valkenburgh

Infobox Military Person
name=Franklin Butler Van Valkenburgh
born= birth date|1888|4|5
died= death date and age|1941|12|7|1888|4|5
placeofbirth=Minneapolis, Minnesota
placeofdeath=KIA at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
placeofburial=


caption=
nickname=
allegiance=United States of America
branch=United States Navy
serviceyears=1905 – 1941
rank=Captain
commands=USS "Talbot" (DD-114) Destroyer Squadron Five USS "Melville" (AD-2) USS "Arizona" (BB-39)
unit=
battles=World War II *Attack on Pearl Harbor
awards=Medal of Honor
laterwork=

Franklin Butler Van Valkenburgh (April 5, 1888 – December 7, 1941) was the last captain of the USS "Arizona". He was killed when the "Arizona" exploded and sank during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Military service

Franklin Butler Van Valkenburgh was appointed a midshipman at the United States Naval Academy on September 15, 1905 and graduated on June 4, 1909. After service in the battleship "Vermont" (BB-20) and in "South Carolina" (BB-26), Van Valkenburgh was commissioned ensign on June 5, 1911. Traveling to the Asiatic Station soon thereafter, he joined the submarine tender "Rainbow" (AS-7) at Olongapo, Philippine Islands, on September 11,. He reported to the gunboat "Pampanga" (PG-39) as executive officer on June 23, 1914 for a short tour in the southern Philippines before his detachment on August 4,.

After returning to the United States, Lt. (jg.) Van Valkenburgh joined "Connecticut" (BB-18) on November 11,. Following postgraduate work in steam engineering at the Naval Academy in September 1915, he took further instruction in that field at Columbia University before reporting to "Rhode Island" (BB-17) on March 2, 1917. The entry of the United States into World War I found Van Valkenburgh serving as the battleship's engineering officer. Subsequent temporary duty in the receiving ship at New York preceded his first tour as an instructor at the Naval Academy. On June 1, 1920, Van Valkenburgh reported on board "Minnesota" (BB-22) for duty as engineer officer, and he held that post until the battleship was decommissioned in November 1921.

He again served as an instructor at the Naval Academy—until May 15, 1925—before he joined "Maryland" (BB-46) on June 26,. Commissioned commander on June 2, 1927 while in "Maryland", he soon reported for duty in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations on May 21, 1928 and served there during the administrations of Admirals Charles F. Hughes and William V. Pratt. Detached on June 28, 1931, Van Valkenburgh received command of the destroyer "Talbot" (DD-114) on July 10, and commanded Destroyer Squadron 5 from March 31, 1932.

After attending the Naval War College, Newport, R.I., and completing the senior course in May 1934, Comdr. Van Valkenburgh next served as inspector of naval materiel at the New York Navy Yard before going to sea again as commanding officer of "Melville" (AD-2) from June 8, 1936 to June 11, 1938. Promoted to captain while commanding "Melville"—on December 23, 1937—he served as inspector of materiel for the 3d Naval District from August 6, 1938 to January 22, 1941.

USS "Arizona"

On February 5, 1941, Van Valkenburgh relieved Capt. Harold C. Train as commanding officer of "Arizona" (BB-39). Newly refitted at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, "Arizona" served as flagship of Battleship Division 1 for the remainder of the year, based primarily at Pearl Harbor with two trips to the west coast. On December 4, the battleship went to sea in company with "Nevada" (BB-36) and "Oklahoma" (BB-37) for night surface practice and, after conducting these gunnery exercises, returned to Pearl Harbor independently on the 6th to moor at berth F-7 alongside Ford Island.

Both Captain Van Valkenburgh and the embarked division commander, Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, spent the next Saturday evening, December 6, on board. Suddenly, shortly before 08:00 on December 7, Japanese planes roared overhead, shattering the Sunday peace and punctuating it with the explosion of bombs and the staccato hammering of machine guns. Capt. Van Valkenburgh sped forward from his cabin and arrived on the navigation bridge where he immediately began to direct his ship's defense. A quartermaster in the pilot house asked if the captain wanted to go to the conning tower—a less-exposed position in view of the Japanese strafing—but Van Valkenburgh refused to do so and continued to man a telephone, fighting for his ship's life.

A violent explosion suddenly shook the ship, throwing the three occupants of the bridge—Van Valkenburgh, an ensign, and the quartermaster, to the deck, and shattering the bridge windows. Dazed and shaken, the ensign stumbled through the flames and smoke and escaped, but the others were never seen again. A continuing fire, fed by ammunition and oil, blazed for two days until finally put out on December 9,. A subsequent search recovered only Van Valkenburgh's class ring.

The captain was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor—the citation reading in part: "for devotion to duty ... extraordinary courage, and the complete disregard of his own life." In gallantly fighting his ship, he directed its defense in the tragically short time allotted him.

In 1943, the destroyer USS "Van Valkenburgh" (DD-656) was named in his honor.

Medal of Honor citation

"For conspicuous devotion to duty, extraordinary courage and complete disregard of his own life, during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor T.H., by Japanese forces on 7 December 1941. As commanding officer of the U.S.S. Arizona, Capt. Van Valkenburgh gallantly fought his ship until the U.S.S. Arizona blew up from magazine explosions and a direct bomb hit on the bridge which resulted in the loss of his life."

ee also

*List of Medal of Honor recipients

References

:NHC:DANFS
* [http://www.cmohs.org/ Congressional Medal of Honor Society]
*cite web|url=http://history.navy.mil/danfs/v1/van_valkenburgh.htm |accessdate=2007-02-05
title=Van Valkenburgh
work=Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
publisher=Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy

*cite web|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/pers-us/uspers-v/f-vanvlk.htm |accessdate=2007-02-05
title=Captain Franklin Van Valkenburgh, USN, (1888-1941)
publisher=Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy