Richard G. Colbert

Richard Gary Colbert (February 12, 1915 – December 2, 1973) was a four-star admiral in the United States Navy who served as President of the Naval War College from 1968 to 1971, and as commander in chief of all NATO forces in southern Europe from 1972 to 1973. He was nicknamed "Mr. International Navy" as one of the very few senior admirals in the U.S. Navy identified with international naval cooperation during the Cold War.

Early career

Born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania to Charles F. Colbert, Jr., president of the Pittsburgh Metallurgical Company, and the former Marie Louise Benford, he attended Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, before being appointed to the United States Naval Academy by Congressman Harry A. Estep in 1933. He graduated from the Naval Academy in June 1937 as one of the four midshipmen officers appointed to command a battalion of the Naval Academy regiment for that academic year, with a class rank of 247/331.

World War II

Commissioned ensign, he served aboard the aircraft carrier from its commissioning on September 30, 1937, until 1939, when he was assigned to the destroyer Barker in the Asiatic Fleet. He remained aboard Barker for the next five years, rising from junior ensign to lieutenant commander and commanding officer.

In 1944, he assumed command of the destroyer Meade, operating with the Pacific Fleet. After the war, Meade was sent on a relief sweep along Tonkin Gulf coastal areas to assist French forces in combating Chinese pirates off Haiphong. Promoted to commander, Colbert spent the next two and a half years as personnel planning officer in the Bureau of Naval Personnel, where he helped plan the postwar naval reserve and served as a social aide in the White House.

Postwar

In June 1948 he was sent to London as aide and flag secretary to Admiral Richard L. Conolly, Commander in Chief, U.S. Naval Forces, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean (CINCNELM).

From 1953 to 1955, Colbert was executive officer of the heavy cruiser Albany, which served as flagship for Commander, Battleship-Cruiser Force, Atlantic, and was deployed to the Mediterranean. Vice Admiral Robert H. Rice, his former commanding officer, remembered Colbert as "the best executive officer any ship had had (or the good fortune to have)."

During his tour in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Colbert had worked closely with Burke as one of Burke's action officers when Burke was director of the Plans Division, and Burke remembered Colbert's unusual competence in international relations. Based on that four-year-old study, Colbert spent the summer of 1956 preparing for the arrival of students from up to 30 countries in August. During his tour, Boston deployed to the Mediterranean and briefly hosted the commander of the Sixth Fleet, Vice Admiral David L. McDonald, who recalled that "Colbert and his crew in the Boston went out of their way to make their ship a most outstanding flagship."

Flag officer

In June 1964 he was assigned as Commander Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla 6 (COMCRUDESFLOT SIX), based in Charleston, South Carolina, and assumed command in 1965. With about fifty ships under his command, the position was equivalent to being commander in chief of a small navy. His first assignment on the SACLANT staff was to establish Iberian Atlantic Command (IBERLANT), a Portuguese-led command responsible for covering the sea approaches to the Strait of Gibraltar. Said Moorer, "This action not only significantly enhanced the capability of NATO to deal with naval operations in the area, but also significantly increased the morale, prestige and overall interest of the Portuguese allies. I give Admiral Colbert all of the credit for this important move." Colbert consolidated his predecessor's curricular reforms and expanded the civilian and military faculty. He also continued the Naval War College building program, working with Rhode Island Senator John O. Pastore to secure congressional funding for new student housing and other construction projects. In collaboration with sculptor Felix de Weldon and National Gallery of Art director J. Carter Brown, he completed the design of three new buildings—Spruance Hall, Conolly Hall, and Hewitt Hall—for which he arranged to reopen the old quarry in Medford, Massachusetts, to obtain the same granite that had been used to construct the adjacent buildings, so that the new buildings would eventually weather to the same color.

Commander in Chief, Allied Forces Southern Europe

After leaving the Naval War College in June 1971, Colbert spent a year as SACLANT chief of staff before being promoted to full admiral and appointed Commander in Chief, Allied Forces Southern Europe (CINCSOUTH) in June 1972.

As CINCSOUTH, Colbert's principal concern was to reduce the tension between Greece and Turkey. He reconstituted the Naval On-Call Force Mediterranean (NAVOCFORMED) using Greek, Turkish, Italian, British, and U.S. ships. He also negotiated a treaty with France, which had withdrawn its armed forces from NATO in 1966, to allow annual naval exercises, culminating in a combined Franco-American naval exercise off the coast of the United States in 1973. and retired from the Navy on November 25, 1973. He died at the Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland on December 2, 1973, at the age of 58, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Italian Admiral Giuseppe Pighini, commander of Allied Naval Forces Southern Europe, eulogized Colbert as "a man dedicated to his duty till the last breath of life."

Personal life

Colbert married the former Prudence Anne Robertson, daughter of the chairman of The London Express Newspapers Company, on November 15, 1950, in St. Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, London, and they had one daughter and three sons.

Adm. Colbert's decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, awarded for his service as President of the Naval War College, and a Gold Star denoting a second Distinguished Service Medal, awarded for his service as Commander in Chief, Allied Forces Southern Europe; the Joint Service Commendation Medal, awarded for his service on the Policy Planning Council of the State Department; and the Legion of Merit, awarded for his service as SACLANT deputy chief of staff.

Awards Distinguished Service Medal (two awards)