Harry Asher Badt

Harry Asher Badt (September 22, 1884 – September 7, 1967) was an American naval officer who served in both World War I and World War II.

Military career Harry Badt attended the U.S. Naval Academy and graduated in 1908. Some time after he was commissioned into the Navy, he served aboard the USS Annapolis in the Caribbean and off the coast of Mexico in 1912. He first saw action during the occupation of Nicaragua in 1912 and later during the occupation of Veracruz in 1914, still aboard the Annapolis. Aboard the Minneapolis, Badt participated in convoy escort operations along the Atlantic coast and out into the open ocean to turn over the convoys to British destroyers. After being transferred to the USS Arizona in 1918, Badt and the rest of the crew trained heavily in Chesapeake until the ship departed for British waters on 18 November 1918.

Inter-War period From 1923 to 1924, Badt commanded the USS Simpson in European waters before returning to the U.S. to begin serving aboard the USS Marblehead in until 1926. Badt commanded the Nokomis until 1930, conducting oceanographic surveys of Mexican and Caribbean waters under the direction of the Hydrographic Office. He returned to his previous role as an instructor at Annapolis until 1933, Upon the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe in September 1939, the Tuscaloosa was assigned to the Neutrality Patrol for the rest of the year. Captain Badt was transferred prior to the Tuscaloosa rescue of the German liner Columbus's crew in late December 1940. After just under two years in command of the USS Tuscaloosa, and with the U.S. entry into the Second World War looming, Badt was transferred to the Bureau of Naval Personnel as the director of Enlisted Personnel until 1942, when he was appointed director of Special Projects, position he would hold until after the war's end.

Death Harry Badt died on 7 September 1967. He is buried with his wife, Jennie Badt, at the Arlington National Cemetery.