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Charles E. Vreeland was born on 10 March 1852 at Newark, N.J. He enlisted in the Navy as a naval apprentice early in 1866. After service in Sabine, he was appointed a midshipman at the Naval Academy on 27 July 1866. On 7 June 1870, he graduated as a passed midshipman and reported aboard the screw sloop California. He was detached from that ship and proceeded to serve in Severn, then Congress, cruising in the South Atlantic. He was later made a cruise to European waters in Brooklyn. In July 1873, he completed his post-sea duty examination in October and returned to sea in Powhattan, receiving his commission as an ensign. Successive tours in Alert, Ashuelot, and Ticonderoga followed; and he received promotions to master and then to lieutenant. In November 1881, he was posted to the Nautical Almanac Office. In March 1884, Lt. Vreeland began a three-year tour in Hartford, then to the Bureau of Navigation for a two-year assignment. Upon leaving that duty, he took torpedo instruction at Newport, R.I. Then, a brief assignment with the Office of Naval Intelligence preceded his reporting to the Coast Survey late in October. That lasted until orders sent him to Europe as naval attache, first at Rome, then at Vienna, and finally in Berlin.
Lt. Vreeland returned home in 1896, and served in battleship Massachusettsuntil transferred to Helena at the end of June. He was ordered to Dolphin as executive officer in April 1898, but he did not actually assume those duties until 24 August, serving in Helena through most of the brief Spanish-American War on blockade duty off Cuba until July. After Dolphin, he was ordered to Concord. In March 1899, he became Lt. Comdr. Vreeland and, after completing assignments in Concord, Monterey, and Baltimore on the Asiatic station, he returned home in March 1900. In April, he joined the Board of Inspection and Survey and was promoted to full commander in August 1901. In August 1902, he took charge of fitting out of the "New Navy" monitor Arkansas (later to be renamed Ozark) at Newport News, Va. When she was placed in commission on 28 October, he assumed command. After two years, he left Arkansas, and served ashore, performing various special duties for the Navy Department. He was a member of the board studying proposed changes to the New York Navy Yard. He was next assigned special duty in the Office of the Ass't Secretary of the Navy. While assigned to the Navy Department in Washington, he was promoted to captain. On 18 April 1907 he placed Kansas(BB-21) in commission at Camden, N.J. and commanded her for the next two years during the cruise of the "Great White Fleet" around the world. Soon after the Fleet returned to Hampton Roads in February 1909, he commanded the Office of Naval Intelligence until 8 December 1909. Then promoted to rear admiral imminent, he broke his flag in Virginia (BB-13) as Commander, 4th Division, Atlantic Fleet. On 19 April 1911, he reported ashore for further duty in Washington as Aide for Inspections, he approached the pinnacle of naval command. He became one of the four principal advisors of the Secretary of the Navy, George von L. Meyer, under the newly devised aide system for managing the Navy. During his tenure in that office, Radm. Vreeland represented the Navy Department at the coronation of King George V of England and headed up the so-called "Vreeland Board" which reinvestigated the Maine disaster of 1898. The controversial report of that board, now considered erroneous, concluded that an external explosion sank the warship.
On 12 December, Radm. Vreeland ended his tour of duty as Aide for Inspections and succeeded Radm Richard Wainwright as the Secretary's second Aide for Operations, the forerunner to today's office of Chief of Naval Operations. He struggled to improve the defenses in the Philippines, agitated for increased naval construction, particularly of battle cruisers, and supported the development of American naval aviation. During his tenure as Aide for Operations, naval aviation found a permanent home at Pensacola, Fla. On 11 February 1913, Rear Admiral Vreeland relinquished his duties as Aide for Operations to Radm. Bradley A. Fiske, the third and last man to hold the office under that title. He finished out his naval career as a member of both the General and Joint Boards. On 10 March 1914, he was transferred to the retired list. On 27 September 1916, after a retirement plagued by illness, Rear Admiral Vreeland died at Atlantic City, N.J.
USS Vreeland (DE1068) was the first ship to be named in his honor. (Photo from Adjutant General's Office (Spanish-American War), State of New Jersey) |
Bill Gonyo |
