Clarence Stewart Williams

Clarence Stewart Williams (October 7, 1863 – October 24, 1951) was a four-star admiral in the United States Navy who served as commander-in-chief of the United States Asiatic Fleet from 1925 to 1927.

Early career Born in Springfield, Ohio, to Orson Williams and Pamela Floyd, he graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1884 and was ordered to the sloop , flagship of the Pacific Squadron. He then served aboard the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey schooner USC&GS Eagre from 1886 to 1887, aboard the sloop-of-war patrolling the Gulf of Saint Lawrence from 1887 to 1889, and as instructor in mathematics at the U.S. Naval Academy from 1889 to 1893. From 1893 to 1896, he served as watch officer aboard the protected cruiser , which protected American interests and shipping in South America during the Brazilian Revolution and evacuated missionaries from the coast of China during the Sino-Japanese War. He returned to the U.S. Naval Academy as an instructor of higher mathematics from 1896 to 1898.

During the Spanish–American War, he commanded the newly commissioned gunboat , which participated in the blockade of Cuba as a dispatch vessel. He was watch officer aboard the unprotected cruiser from 1899 to 1900 and aboard the battleship from 1900 to 1901.

Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Asiatic Fleet On October 14, 1925, Williams relieved Admiral Thomas Washington as commander-in-chief of the United States Asiatic Fleet and was promoted to the temporary rank of admiral. As senior American officer in the Far East, Williams directed the American military intervention to protect foreign nationals in China at the beginning of the Chinese Civil War.

In 1926, the Kuomintang allied with the Chinese Communist Party to launch the Northern Expedition with the objective of unifying the country by suppressing local warlords and abrogating the unequal treaties imposed on China by the Western powers. Following the Nanking incident of 1927, in which Kuomintang troops targeted foreign properties and personnel, Western and Japanese warships and marines were dispatched to protect and evacuate foreign nationals living in cities on the Yangtze River. As Kuomintang forces approached Shanghai, home to a large international settlement, the American minister to China, John Van Antwerpt MacMurray, requested military intervention to protect their lives and interests. The United States Department of State directed Williams to protect lives by evacuating Americans from the interior but not to protect private property unless lives were endangered. American forces were authorized to cooperate with other foreign forces, but not to participate in joint military actions.

At the height of the crisis, 171 warships of various nations were anchored off Shanghai. The American force included four cruisers, four destroyers, an oiler, a transport, a minesweeper, and the 3rd Marine Brigade, commanded by Brigadier General Smedley D. Butler. Williams was the senior officer of the international armada, although the British had more ships. Once Shanghai was secured, Williams sent reinforcements to Tientsin with orders to defend Americans in that city; to protect the Tientsin-Peking railroad; and, if necessary, to rescue MacMurray and the American legation from Peking. He is buried with his wife, son, and daughter-in-law in Arlington National Cemetery.

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