John W. Wilcox, Jr.

John Walter Wilcox Jr. (22 March 1882 – 27 March 1942) was a rear admiral of the United States Navy. He saw service in World War I and in the opening weeks of United States involvement in World War II before being lost overboard from his flagship in the North Atlantic Ocean in 1942.

Early life

Midshipman Wilcox's photograph in the 1905 edition of the Lucky Bag.Wilcox was born in Midway, Georgia, on 22 March 1882. Appointed from Georgia, he was admitted to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, on 21 May 1901, and began his schooling there on 21 June 1901. The 1905 edition of the school yearbook, the Lucky Bag, described him as cheerful and polite, successful in all his endeavors except the academic study of mathematics, and an expert ice skater, and it listed his activities as including baseball, American football, gymnastics, riflery — he was a skilled rifle marksman — and various social positions.

Naval career Early career

On 23 February 1905, Wilcox reported aboard the new armored cruiser for his first tour of duty. By the beginning of 1909 he had transferred to the patrol yacht , and by the beginning of 1911 was serving aboard the battleship ,

Wilcox completed his tour aboard Georgia in May 1911, He then returned to sea, transferring on 2 June 1913 to the gunboat , which as the flagship of the Third Squadron arrived in the spring of 1914 in Tampico, Mexico, to protect American lives and property, resulting in the Tampico Affair and the United States occupation of Veracruz. In 1915, he transferred to the battleship , which operated along the East Coast of the United States until going into reserve for an overhaul early in 1916. Wilcox completed his tour aboard her in May 1916. He began duty at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, on 13 June 1916. Late in 1917, he left the navy yard to become the first commanding officer of the armed yacht when she was commissioned on 10 December 1917 for World War I convoy escort and antisubmarine duty in the Atlantic Ocean.

By March 1918, Wilcox was flag secretary on the staff of commander, Battleship Force 2, United States Atlantic Fleet, and he received the Navy Cross for distinguished service during that duty. On 1 July 1918, he received a promotion to a temporary wartime rank of commander. The war ended on 11 November 1918, and by the beginning of 1919, Wilcox was the executive officer of the troop transport , engaged in bringing American servicemen home from Europe in the immediate aftermath of the war.

Interwar By the beginning of 1920 Wilcox was serving on the staff of Destroyer Squadron Four in the Pacific Fleet. Toward the end of his tour aboard Boggs he was promoted to the permanent rank of commander on 3 June 1921, and he detached from Boggs on 21 June 1921. After completing his classes, he took command of the destroyer on 4 June 1924. She operated off New England, off Charleston, South Carolina, and in the Caribbean under his command. By the beginning of 1926, he was serving on the staff of the commander, Destroyer Squadrons, Scouting Fleet. Completing this duty in July 1926, he returned to the Naval War College on 12 July 1926 for a tour on its staff. While at the college, he was promoted to captain on 11 December 1928. Wilcox took command of the submarine tender on 15 June 1929. and on 1 July 1931 reported for duty on the staff of the U.S. Naval Academy, where he served as the schools athletic director until 1934. He returned to sea for his next tour, becoming chief of staff to the commander, Cruisers, Scouting Force, on 14 July 1934. Completing that duty in June 1936, he returned to the Naval War College to serve as head of the college's operations department, and on 7 May 1937 he became chief of staff and aide to college president Rear Admiral Charles P. Snyder. During his war college tour, he was promoted to rear admiral on 23 June 1938, — flying his flag first aboard the gunboat and from 14 January 1939 aboard the gunboat — until relieved by Rear Admiral H. Kent Hewitt on 3 August 1940. Wilcox was President of the Board of Inspection and Survey from 18 September 1940

World War II Wilcox was the newly appointed commander, Battleships, United States Atlantic Fleet, when the United States entered World War II on 7 December 1941. He came aboard his flagship, the battleship , in Virginias York River, to take up his duties on 13 December 1941, simultaneously also taking command of Battleship Division 6. Washington conducted training along the United States East Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico until March 1942.

On 25 March 1942, Wilcox became commander of Task Force 39, consisting of Washington, the aircraft carrier , the heavy cruisers and , and eight destroyers. The task force had orders to join the British Home Fleet at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands and thereafter assist the Home Fleet in covering Arctic convoys bound for the Soviet Union. With Wilcox aboard Washington, the task force departed Casco Bay, Maine, on 26 March 1942, bound for Scapa Flow.

Loss at sea On the morning of 27 March 1942, the second day of the voyage, Wilcox appeared unaccompanied and without a coat on Washingtons deck while Task Force 39 was pushing through heavy seas off Sable Island in stormy North Atlantic winter weather. He held a few brief conversations with some of the men on deck before they lost track of his whereabouts. At 10:31, a member of Washingtons crew reported a man overboard at and soon thereafter Tuscaloosa sighted a man struggling in the water and took evasive action to avoid running him down. The task force began a search and rescue operation. Mustering of Washingtons crew found no one missing from the ships company or Wilcoxs staff, and it gradually became apparent that Wilcox himself had gone overboard.

Wasp launched four SB2U-2 Vindicator dive bombers to assist in the search, one of which crashed astern of Wasp while attempting to land, killing its two-man crew. About 80 minutes after Wilcox went overboard, the destroyer sighted his body floating face down in the rough seas, but the bad weather prevented its recovery, and it was never seen again. Task Force 39 soon suspended its search and resumed its voyage to Scapa Flow.

Board of investigation Immediately after Wilcoxs death, Rear Admiral Robert C. Giffen aboard Wichita took command of Task Force 39. He ordered a board of investigation into the loss of Wilcox to convene aboard Washington on the afternoon of 27 March 1942. It examined 43 witnesses over the next seven days. No one had seen how Wilcox had gone overboard. The heavy seas that morning could simply have swept him overboard, but the board explored other possibilities. Witnesses disagreed on Wilcoxs mental state; there were claims that he seemed sad or nervous on the morning of 27 March and that he had exhibited unstable behavior in recent days, but these were balanced by other witnesses who said he seemed of sound mind and that, although he was known to exhibit eccentricities not common among officers of his grade, his behavior otherwise was not unusual on the morning of his death. One witness believed that Wilcox seemed pale and white during his last few minutes on deck and perhaps was ill, leading to speculation that he may have suffered a heart attack while on deck and fallen overboard.

Many rumors circulated in the aftermath of Wilcoxs death, including that he had been suicidal and had jumped overboard or that someone pushed him overboard, but none of these ideas could be substantiated. When the board concluded its proceedings on 2 April 1942, it found that no one aboard Washington had been negligent in Wilcoxs death and that Wilcox had not died owing to any misconduct of his own. — ever lost at sea.