This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Kent Weekly (SS/DSV) (DBF), EMCS
to remember
Eller, Ernest McNeill (Judge), RADM USN(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Marion, VA
Last Address Annapolis, MD
Date of Passing Jul 30, 1992
Location of Interment Salem Moravian Graveyard - Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Ernest was the son of Edward Edward Eller and Elizabeth McNeill Eller. He attended NorthWilkesboroHigh School and NC State University, and entered the United StatesNavalAcademy in 1921. He graduated in 1925 and received his Master of Arts in Psychology from GeorgeWashingtonUniversity in 1934.
He served in World War II and Korea. He entered as an Ensign and retired with the rank of Rear Admiral. He served on the USS Utah, the USS Texas, the USS S-33, the USS Saratoga. He served on the staff of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Fleet (CINCPAC), as Assistant Gunnery and Anti-submarine Training Officer. He also taught classes at the NavalAcademy.
He was awarded the Legion of Merit, the American Defense Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the Navy Occupation Service Medal, the China Service Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal. In 1937 he received the Alfred Thayer Mahan Award for Literary Achievement.
USS Albany (CA-123) was a United States Navy Oregon City-class heavy cruiser, later converted to the guided missile cruiser CG-10. The converted cruiser was the lead ship the new Albany guided missile cruiser class. She was the fourth ship to carry the name "Albany."
The ship was laid down on 6 March 1944 at Quincy, Massachusetts, by the Bethlehem Steel Company, launched on 30 June 1945, sponsored by Mrs. Elizabeth F. Pinckney, and commissioned on 15 June 1946 at the Boston Navy Yard, Captain Harold A. Carlisle in command.
Following outfitting and a shakedown cruise in the vicinity of Casco Bay, Maine, Albany began operations along the east coast of the United States punctuated with cruises to the West Indies. During the ensuing months, the cruiser made a number of voyages for the purpose of training naval reservists and NROTC midshipmen. Albany continued to perform such duty until 11 September 1948, when she stood out of Chesapeake Bay for her first tour of duty with the American naval forces operating in the Mediterranean Sea, recently made a permanent establishment as the 6th Fleet. That deployment set the tone for the next decade. The cruiser alternated five assignments to the 6th Fleet with operations along the east coast of the United States and in the West Indies and made three cruises to South American ports. During one of the South American voyages, Albany carried the official United States representative to the inauguration of the President of Brazil in January 1951
On 30 June 1958, Albany was placed out of commission at the Boston Naval Shipyard to begin conversion to a guided missile cruiser. On 1 November 1958, she was redesignated CG-10. The warship spent the next four years at Boston undergoing very extensive modifications as part of the conversion. The ship was recommissioned at Boston on 3 November 1962, Captain Ben B. Pickett in command. For almost five years, she again alternated deployments to European waters – both to the Mediterranean Sea and to the North Atlantic – with operations along the east coast and in the West Indies. During that time, the cruiser visited many foreign ports and participated in a number of exercises with units of friendly navies. On 1 March 1967, she was decommissioned at the Boston Naval Shipyard once again to undergo extensive modifications. Some 20 months later, on 9 November 1968, the guided missile cruiser was placed back in commission at Boston, Captain Robert C. Peniston in command. In 1973 the ship was again decommissioned for overhaul at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. It was recommissioned in May 1974 and homeported in Norfolk, VA under the command of Captain John J. Ekelund. Shortly thereafter it became the flagship of the 2nd Fleet.
Between 1976 and 1980, Albany was the flagship of the 6th Fleet, and homeported in Gaeta, Italy.
She was decommissioned 29 August 1980. A portion of her bow resides at the Albany County Fairgrounds in Altamont, NY
Laid down: 6 March 1944
Launched: 30 June 1945
Commissioned: 15 June 1946
Decommissioned: 29 August 1980
Motto: Assiduity (CG-10)
Fate: Scrapped in 1990
General characteristics
Displacement: 13,700 tons
Length: 673 ft 5 in (205.26 m)
Beam: 70 ft 10 in (21.59 m)
Draft: 26 ft 4 in (8.03 m)
Speed: 32.6 knots
Complement: 1,969 officers and enlisted
Armament: 9 x 8"/55 caliber guns
12 x 5"/38 caliber guns
40 x 40 mm guns
20 x 20 mm guns
Stern view, underway on the Fore River, 14 June 1946, the day before commissioning.
Ships of the U.S. Sixth Task Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral Forrest P. Sherman, silhouetted by the evening sun while anchored in Phaleron Bay off Piraeus, Greece, 17 October 1948. The ships are (from left to right): USS Little Rock (CL 92); USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB 42); USS Providence (CL 82); and USS Albany (CA 123).
Port bow view while underway, on 14 JAN 1955.
ALBANY As Converted Into Guided Missile Cruiser CG 10
(1962 - 1985)
