NavSource Online: Aircraft Carrier Photo Archive
Courtesy of USS Saratoga Association
| Commanding Officers | |||
| Captain Harry Ervin Yarnell (Note 1) | USNA 1897 | 30 Sept 1927 - 15 Sept 1928 | ADM |
| Captain John Halligan, Jr. | USNA 1898 | 15 Sept 1928 - 20 Apr 1929 | RADM |
| Captain Frederick Joseph Horne | USNA 1899 | 20 Apr 1929 - 5 Sept 1930 | ADM |
| Captain Frank Robert McCrary | USNA 1901 | 5 Sept 1930 - 1 Jun 1932 | |
| Commander Archibald Hugh Douglas (Note 2) | USNA 1908 | 1 Jun 1932 - 11 Jul 1932 | CAPT |
| Captain George Washington Steele, Jr. | USNA 1900 | 11 Jul 1932 - 31 Dec 1932 | |
| Captain Rufus Fairchild Zogbaum, Jr. | USNA 1901 | 31 Dec 1932 - 12 Jun 1934 | RADM |
| Captain Kenneth Whiting | USNA 1905 | 12 Jun 1934 - 6 Jul 1935 | |
| Captain William Frederick Halsey, Jr. | USNA 1904 | 6 Jul 1935 - 9 Jun 1937 | FADM |
| Captain John Henry ("Jack") Towers | USNA 1906 | 9 Jun 1937 - 16 Jun 1938 | ADM |
| Captain Albert Cushing ("Putty") Read | USNA 1907 | 16 Jun 1938 - 15 Mar 1940 | RADM |
| Captain Robert Potter Molten, Jr. (Note 3) [Biography] | USNA 1911 | 15 Mar 1940 - 6 Jun 1940 | |
| Captain Archibald Hugh Douglas | USNA 1908 | 6 Jun 1940 - 12 Apr 1942 | |
| Commander Alfred Melville Pride (Note 4) | USNR 1918 | 12 Apr 1942 - 12 May 1942 | ADM |
| Captain DeWitt Clinton ("Duke") Ramsey | USNA 1912 | 12 May 1942 - 27 Sept 1942 | ADM |
| Captain Gerald Francis ("Gerry") Bogan (Note 5) | USNA 1916 | 27 Sept 1942 - 7 Apr 1943 | VADM |
| Captain Henry Maston Mullinix | USNA 1916 | 7 Apr 1943 - 22 Aug 1943 | RADM |
| Captain John Howard Cassady | USNA 1919 | 22 Aug 1943 - 22 Jun 1944 | ADM |
| Captain Thomas Upton Sisson | USNA 1924 | 22 Jun 1944 - 24 Jul 1944 | |
| Commander Louis Henry Hunte (Note 6) | USNA 1927 | 24 Jul 1944 - 1 Aug 1944 | RADM |
| Captain Lucian Ancel ("Fish") Moebus | USNA 1920 | 1 Aug 1944 - 27 Apr 1945 | VADM |
| Captain Frank Akers | USNA 1922 | 27 Apr 1945 - 4 Feb 1946 | RADM |
| Captain John Ronald Diffley | USNR 1928 | 4 Feb 1946 - 6 Mar 1946 | |
| Captain Stanhope Cotton Ring | USNA 1923 | 6 Mar 1946 - 2 Jun 1946 | VADM |
| Captain Donald Swain MacMahan (Note 7) | USNA 1923 | 2 Jun 1946 - 6 Aug 1946 | |
| Commander Daniel McElroy Entler, Jr. (Note 8) | USNA 1936 | 6 Aug 1946 - 15 Aug 1946 | |
| Lt. Commander John Lewis Landreth (Note 8) | USNA 1941 | 15 Aug 1946 - 19 Aug 1946 | |
| Notes (1) CAPT Henry V. Butler was ordered to Camden on 2 July 1926 as prospective commanding officer of USS Saratoga, but delays in her construction prevented him from actually becoming Sara's first Captain. CAPT Yarnell was promoted to Rear Admiral on 17 August 1928. [Back] (2) XO in temporary command. [Back] (3) CAPT Molten died aboard on 28 May 1940. Sara's XO, CDR James M. Shoemaker, assumed temporary command of the ship. [Back] (4) XO in temporary command. [Back] (5) On 29 March 1943 CAPT Bogan slipped and fell off the flight deck into a 40mm gun sponson. He woke up four days later aboard the hospital ship USS Solace (AH-5), en route to Auckland, New Zealand. CDR Edgar A. Cruise, Sara's XO, took temporary command. [Back]. (6) XO in temporary command. [Back] (7) Saratoga was evacuated on 30 June 1946, as she was to be subjected to the blast of an atomic bomb the following day ("Able Day," Operation Crossroads). Remaining aboard in temporary command was LCDR Harold William Lockhart (USNA 1941, later Captain), and 13 members of his Last Minute Evacuation Party; they left the ship at 0345, 1 July. On 24 July Saratoga was evacuated again, in preparation for "Baker Day," Operation Crossroads. LCDR Lockhart remained aboard with his Last Minute Evacuation Party; they left the ship at 0355, 25 July 1946, Sara's final day afloat. [Back] (8) Saratoga sank on 25 July 1946, a victim of Operation Crossroads (nuclear weapons tests at Bikini Atoll). CDR Entler and LCDR Landreth were thus in paper command of a ship that rested on the bottom of the sea. LCDR Landreth made the final entry in Sara's deck log. [Back] | |||
Sources: USS Saratoga CV-3. An Illustrated History of the Legendary Aircraft Carrier 1927-1946, by John Fry.
Ron Reeves & Wolfgang Hechler. Bill Gonyo.
Photo and biography of CAPT Molten courtesy of Curt Molten, his grandson.
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This page was created and is maintained by Fabio Peña
Last update: 1 October 2018
