Samuel Lee Gravely Jr. (June 4, 1922 – October 22, 2004) was a United States Navy officer. He was the first African American in the U.S. Navy to serve aboard a fighting ship as an officer, the first to command a Navy ship, the first fleet commander, and the first to become a flag officer, retiring as a vice admiral.[1]
Early life and training
Gravely was born on June 4, 1922, in Richmond, Virginia, the oldest of five children of Mary George Gravely and postal worker Samuel L. Gravely Sr. He attended Virginia Union University but left before graduating to join the Naval Reserve in 1942.[2] He had attempted to enlist in the U.S. Army in 1940 but was turned away due to a supposed heart murmur.[3]
Gravely began his seagoing career as the only black officer aboard the submarine chaser USS PC-1264, which was one of two U.S. Navy ships (the other being USS Mason (DE-529)) with a predominantly black enlisted crew. Before June 1, 1942, African Americans could only enlist in the Navy as messmen; PC-1264 and Mason were intended to test the ability of African Americans to perform general Navy service. For the remainder of World War II, PC-1264 conducted patrols and escort missions along the east coast of the U.S. and south to the Caribbean.[2]
In 1946, Gravely was released from active duty, remaining in the Naval Reserve. He married schoolteacher Alma Bernice Clark later that year; the couple went on to raise three children, Robert, David, and Tracey. He returned to his hometown of Richmond and re-enrolled at Virginia Union University, graduating in 1948 with a degree in history and then working as a railway postal clerk.[2][3]
Gravely was recalled to active duty in 1949 and worked as a recruiter in Washington, D.C., before holding both shore and sea assignments during the Korean War. During that time he served on the USS Iowa as a communications officer.[1] He transferred from the Reserve to the regular Navy in 1955 and began to specialize in naval communications.[2]
Vietnam War and later career
Many of Gravely's later career achievements represented "firsts" for African Americans. From 15 February 1961 to 21 October 1961, he served as the first African-American officer to command a U.S. Navy ship, the USS Theodore E. Chandler (DD-717) (Robert Smalls had briefly commanded a Navy ship in the American Civil War, although he was a civilian, not a Navy officer). He also commanded the radar picket destroyer escort USS Falgout (DER-324) from January 1962 to June 1963. During the Vietnam War he commanded the destroyer USS Taussig (DD-746) as it performed plane guard duty and gunfire support off the coast of Vietnam in 1966, making him the first African American to lead a ship into combat. In 1967 he became the first African American to reach the rank of captain, and in 1971 the first to reach rear admiral.[2]
Capt. Samuel Gravely, U.S. Navy photograph circa 1970.
Following his military retirement, Gravely settled in rural Haymarket, Virginia, and worked as a consultant.[2] An elementary school in Haymarket, Virginia has been named the Samuel L. Gravely Jr. Elementary School in his honor.
In Richmond, the street on which Gravely grew up was renamed "Admiral Gravely Boulevard" in 1977.[2] Samuel L. Gravely, Jr. Elementary School in Haymarket, Virginia was named after him in 2008. The destroyer USS Gravely (DDG-107), commissioned in 2010, was named in his honor.[3]
Vice Admiral Gravely is honored annually in San Pedro, California, aboard Battleship Iowa, at the Gravely Celebration Experience. Each year the organization honors trailblazers exemplifying VADM Gravely's leadership and service with the Leadership & Service Award. An essay competition for U.S. History high school students that explores VADM Gravely's motto — “Education, Motivation, Perseverance” — is affiliated with the annual event.
