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Willis Winter Bradley, Jr. was born in Ransomville, N.Y. on 28 June 1884. He was appointed to the Naval Academy in 1903 and graduated on 12 September 1906. He went to sea in Virginia (BB13) and after two years, as a passed midshipman, he received his commission as an ensign on 13 September 1908. He then served in Culgoa from the fall of 1908 to October 1910, commissioned Perkins (DD26), and served in her until March of 1911. From then until September of 1912, he saw duty, first in the transport Hancock and then in South Carolina (BB26). He then commanded Biddle (TB26) and the Reserve Torpedo Group at Annapolis, Md. Beginning in September 1913, Bradley studied ordnance and explosives at the Naval Postgraduate School in Annapolis, Md., and then at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He continued his studies at the Naval Proving Ground in Indian Head, Md., at the Bausch & Lomb, and at the Midvale Steel Co. in Pittsburgh, Pa. In July 1915, Bradley returned to sea in command of Stewart (DD13). That December, he was transferred to command of Hull (DD7) and Reserve Torpedo Division, Pacific Fleet. After service in San Diego (CA6) between September 1916 and February 1917, Bradley became gunnery officer in Pittsburgh (CA4). He earned the Medal of Honor on 23 July 1917 during a powder explosion in one of the ship's casemates, he entered the compartment, saved a man's life, and then reentered the casemate to extinguish burning gunpowder. Moving ashore again in January 1918 he headed the Explosives, Fuses, and Primers Section of the Bureau of Ordnance. He then went to the Naval Torpedo Station in Keyport, Wash., in August 1919 to serve as a naval inspector. Returning to sea in June 1920, Bradley served as gunnery officer in Texas (BB35) until May 1921, when he reported to the Mare Island Navy Yard to assist in fitting out and commissioning California (BB44) as her gunnery officer. Bradley returned to Keyport in May 1922 for two years of duty at the Naval Torpedo Station as the Naval Inspector in Charge. From July 1924 to November 1926, he commanded Gold Star (AK12), the station ship at Guam. Between late 1926 and the middle of 1929, Bradley served in the Naval Reserve Section in the Bureau of Navigation, and then became governor of Guam in June 1929. He resumed sea duty in July 1931 in command of Bridge (AF1). Two years later, he became Captain of the Yard at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard. After six months, however, he was transferred to command of Portland (CA33). In June 1937 he was reassigned to the Naval War College as a student. After a year of duty with the Pacific coast section of the Board of Inspection and Survey beginning in May 1938, Capt. Bradley commanded Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 31, Battle Force, based in San Diego for a year. At the conclusion of that assignment, he resumed duty with the Board of Inspection and Survey on the west coast. He continued in that billet through the end of World War II and until his retirement on 1 August 1946. Between 1947 and 1949, Bradley represented California’s 18th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. He died at Santa Barbara, Cal., on 27 August 1954.
USS Bradley (DE1041) was the first ship to be named in his honor. (Photo from the book "Medal of Honor 1861-1949, The Navy" page 114 ) |
Bill Gonyo |
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15 May 1965: San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard, San Francisco, Cal. - USS Bradley (DE1041) being commissioned. USS Ticonderoga (CVA14) is in the background. (Official U.S. Navy Photo #NH 98430 from the collections of the Naval Historical Center, courtesy of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR, 2003.) |
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USS Bradley (DE1041), starboard bow view of the ship underway in April or May 1965. (Official U.S. Navy Photograph #NH 98498 from the collections of the Naval Historical Center) |
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Underway, circa mid-1965. (Official U.S. Navy Photograph #NH 99938 from the collections of the Naval Historical Center, Courtesy of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Ret.), 2005) |
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date / location unknown |
Joe Barbaritz |
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An undated postcard view of Bradley as an FF. (Postcard #P6107 © Marine Photos and Publishing Co., Spring Valley, Cal.; shown at 150% of original size)
Caption reads: U.S.S. Bradley (FF-1041) - Fast Frigate - Honoring Captain Willis W. Bradley, Jr., USN, Congressional Medal of Honor winner during World War I service. USS Bradley was built by Bethlehem Steel Co. at San Francisco, California and commissioned on May 15, 1965. |
Mike Smolinski |
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8 July 1976: off the California coast - An aerial starboard bow view of Bradley underway near San Clemente Island.
(U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-SC-85-06038 by PH3 H.J. Burgess from the Defense Visual Information Center) |
Navsource |
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8 July 1976: off the California coast - An aerial starboard beam view of Bradley underway near San Clemente Island. (U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-SC-85-06066 by PH3 H.J. Burgess from the DVIC) |
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8 July 1976: off the California coast - A starboard view of Bradley underway near San Clemente Island. (U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-SC-85-06122 by PH3 H.J. Burgess from the DVIC) |
Fred Weiss |
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8 July 1976: off the California coast - An aerial port quarter view of Bradley underway near San Clemente Island. (U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-SC-85-06065 by PH3 H.J. Burgess from the DVIC) |
Navsource |
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1 April 1983: off the Phillipine Islands - Bradley prepares for target practice at the Tabones Target Range. (U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-SN-84-01497 from the DVIC) |
Fred Weiss |
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1 April 1983: off the Phillipine Islands - Gunner's Mate Curtis Pascoe operates a missile electric systems test set aboard Bradley. (U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-SN-84-01492 from the DVIC) |
Navsource |
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1 April 1983: Subic Bay, Phillipine Islands - A port beam view of Bradley approaching the U.S. Naval Facility. (U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-SN-84-01485 from the DVIC) |
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1 April 1983: Subic Bay, Phillipine Islands - A starboard bow view of Bradley approaching the U.S. Naval Facility assisted by Nashua (YTB-774). (U.S. Navy photo DVID #DN-SN-84-01486 from the DVIC) |
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Taken from the USS Decatur (DDG31) during a Desron 7 "Tiger Cruise" returning from the 82-83 WestPac deployment. |
Lee Noland
STGC, USN (ret.) |
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circa 1988: NAe Pernambuco (D-30) (Brazilian Navy photo) |
Artemio Bueno Rosa, Jr. |
