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Home Town Morristown, New Jersey
Last Address Polyclinic Hospital in New York City.
Date of Passing Feb 28, 1931
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Thomas Slidell Rodgers
Rear Admiral Thomas Slidell Rodgers (18 August 1858 – 28 February 1931) was an officer in the United States Navy who served during the Spanish-American War and World War I. His father was Admiral Christopher Raymond Perry Rodgers, and his brother was Rear Admiral Raymond Perry Rodgers. Both brothers, Raymond and Thomas Rodgers, held the position of Director of Naval Intelligence.
Biography
Born at Morristown, New Jersey, Rodgers was a scion of one of the most famous naval families in American history. His great-uncle, Commodore John Rodgers, had commanded American forces during the First Barbary War and was the senior officer in the United States Navy at the outbreak of the War of 1812. His maternal great-grandfather was Captain Christopher Raymond Perry, who fought in the Quasi-War with France and was the father of naval heroes Oliver Hazard Perry and Matthew Calbraith Perry. Thomas Rodgers's father was Rear Admiral Christopher Raymond Perry Rodgers, and his older brother, Raymond Perry Rodgers, would also reach the rank of Rear Admiral. At one point or another during the first 25 years of the 20th century, five members of the Rodgers family were active flag officers in the U.S. Navy.
Following in the family footsteps, therefore, Rodgers attended the United States Naval Academy, from which he graduated in 1878. Details of his service during the first twenty years of his career are slim. It is known from sources, however, that he had achieved the rank of Lieutenant no later than 1894, when he served aboard Chicago. During and after the Spanish-American War, Rodgers served aboard Bennington. It is likely that this service included participation in the annexation of Wake Island on January 17, 1899. Promoted rapidly through the ranks following the end of the War, Rodgers served as executive officer of the battleship Maine, with the rank of Commander, from 1902 to 1905. Varied service ashore and afloat led to promotion to the rank of Captain, and in 1910, Rodgers was given command of the battleship New Hampshire, the last pre-dreadnought built for the U.S. Navy. In 1911, he was appointed to the post of Supervisor of New York Harbor, and in 1912, Rodgers succeeded Captain Templin M. Potts to become Director of Naval Intelligence, a position largely developed by his older brother Raymond Perry Rodgers, the second holder of that office.
In 1913, Rodgers was given command of the U.S. Navy's newest and most powerful dreadnought battleship, New York. Shortly after bringing her into commission on April 15, 1914, Rodgers took the New York south to the Gulf of Mexico, where she served as the flagship for Rear Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher's squadron blockading Veracruz, Mexico. In 1915, Rodgers served as flag captain of Battleship Division One of the Atlantic Fleet, commanded by Rear Admiral Henry T. Mayo. On June 13, 1916, Rodgers was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral and served briefly with the Atlantic Fleet before going ashore to study at the Naval War College, where he would remain through 1917.
World War I
Utah, Admiral Rodgers's flagship during World War I, exercises with a kite balloon in Bantry Bay, Ireland. On April 6, 1917, the United States declared war on Germany, entering World War I on the side of the Allies. As more and more American troops began to cross the Atlantic in 1918 for service on the Western Front, the Navy Department became increasingly worried about the threat posed by large German surface raiders breaking out into the Atlantic. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson, in particular, worried that if one or more of the German battlecruisers were to catch a weakly protected troop convoy, potentially thousands of American doughboys would be slaughtered.
In response to this threat, the Navy Department decided to send a division of battleships to Berehaven, Ireland, to act as a guard force against the possibility of a battlecruiser raid. Rear Admiral Rodgers, then in command of Battleship Division Six of the Atlantic Fleet, was selected for this assignment. The division departed for Ireland on August 12, 1918. On October 14, 1918, Rodgers received word that German cruisers might have escaped into the Atlantic. At the time, two troop convoys were approaching European waters. Battleship Division Six put to sea without delay and escorted both convoys out of the danger zone. Despite the prompt action of Admiral Rodgers and the ships under his command, no German warships had been in the Atlantic, and the convoys were never in any danger. This false-alarm was the only raider-warning issued during Battleship Division Six's service in the warzone.
At the end of the war, Admiral Rodgers returned to service in the Atlantic Fleet, commanding Battleship Division Seven. He retired from the Navy in July, 1919, after 41 years of service.
Death
Admiral Rodgers died on February 28, 1931, at the Polyclinic Hospital in New York City. According to the New York Times, Rodgers died suddenly, mere moments after being admitted. A lifelong bachelor, he was survived by his brother, Colonel Alexander Rodgers, and a sister, identified by the New York Times as "Mrs. Louis Nielsen."
Description The United States of America declared war on the German Empire on April 6, 1917. The U.S. was an independent power and did not officially join the Allies. It closely cooperated with them militarily but acted alone in diplomacy. The U.S. made its major contributions in terms of supplies, raw material and money, starting in 1917. American soldiers under General John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), arrived in large numbers on the Western Front in the summer of 1918. They played a major role until victory was achieved on November 11, 1918. Before entering the war, the U.S had remained neutral, though it had been an important supplier to Great Britain and the other Allied powers. During the war, the U.S mobilized over 4 million military personnel and suffered 110,000 deaths, including 43,000 due to the influenza pandemic. The war saw a dramatic expansion of the United States government in an effort to harness the war effort and a significant increase in the size of the U.S. military. After a slow start in mobilising the economy and labour force, by spring 1918 the nation was poised to play a role in the conflict. Under the leadership of President Woodrow Wilson, the war represented the climax of the Progressive Era as it sought to bring reform and democracy to the world, although there was substantial public opposition to United States entry into the war.
Although the United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, it did not initially declare war on the other Central Powers, a state of affairs that Woodrow Wilson described as an "embarrassing obstacle" in his State of the Union speech. Congress declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire on December 17, 1917, but never made declarations of war against the other Central Powers, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire or the various Co-belligerents allied with the central powers, thus the United States remained uninvolved in the military campaigns in central, eastern and southern Europe, the Middle East, the Caucasus, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific.
The United States as late as 1917 maintained only a small army, smaller than thirteen of the nations and empires already active in the war. After the passage of the Selective Service Act in 1917, it drafted 2.8 million men into military service. By the summer of 1918 about a million U.S. soldiers had arrived in France, about half of whom eventually saw front-line service; by the Armistice of November 11 approximately 10,000 fresh soldiers were arriving in France daily. In 1917 Congress gave U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans when they were drafted to participate in World War I, as part of the Jones Act. In the end Germany miscalculated the United States' influence on the outcome of the conflict, believing it would be many more months before U.S. troops would arrive and overestimating the effectiveness of U-boats in slowing the American buildup.
The United States Navy sent a battleship group to Scapa Flow to join with the British Grand Fleet, destroyers to Queenstown, Ireland and submarines to help guard convoys. Several regiments of Marines were also dispatched to France. The British and French wanted U.S. units used to reinforce their troops already on the battle lines and not to waste scarce shipping on bringing over supplies. The U.S. rejected the first proposition and accepted the second. General John J. Pershing, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) commander, refused to break up U.S. units to serve as mere reinforcements for British Empire and French units. As an exception, he did allow African-American combat regiments to fight in French divisions. The Harlem Hellfighters fought as part of the French 16th Division, earning a unit Croix de Guerre for their actions at Château-Thierry, Belleau Wood, and Séchault.
Impact of US forces on the war
On the battlefields of France in spring 1918, the war-weary Allied armies enthusiastically welcomed the fresh American troops. They arrived at the rate of 10,000 a day, at a time when the Germans were unable to replace their losses. After British Empire, French and Portuguese forces had defeated and turned back the powerful final German offensive (Spring Offensive of March to July, 1918), the Americans played a role in the Allied final offensive (Hundred Days Offensive of August to November). However, many American commanders used the same flawed tactics which the British, French, Germans and others had abandoned early in the war, and so many American offensives were not particularly effective. Pershing continued to commit troops to these full- frontal attacks, resulting in high casualties against experienced veteran German and Austrian-Hungarian units. Nevertheless, the infusion of new and fresh U.S. troops greatly strengthened the Allies' strategic position and boosted morale. The Allies achieved victory over Germany on November 11, 1918 after German morale had collapsed both at home and on the battlefield.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
April / 1917
To Month/Year
November / 1918
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories World War I
Utah, Admiral Rodgers's flagship during World War I, exercises with a kite balloon in Bantry Bay, Ireland. On April 6, 1917, the United States declared war on Germany, entering World War I on the side of the Allies. As more and more American troops began to cross the Atlantic in 1918 for service on the Western Front, the Navy Department became increasingly worried about the threat posed by large German surface raiders breaking out into the Atlantic. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William S. Benson, in particular, worried that if one or more of the German battlecruisers were to catch a weakly protected troop convoy, potentially thousands of American doughboys would be slaughtered.
In response to this threat, the Navy Department decided to send a division of battleships to Berehaven, Ireland, to act as a guard force against the possibility of a battlecruiser raid. Rear Admiral Rodgers, then in command of Battleship Division Six of the Atlantic Fleet, was selected for this assignment. The division departed for Ireland on August 12, 1918. On October 14, 1918, Rodgers received word that German cruisers might have escaped into the Atlantic. At the time, two troop convoys were approaching European waters. Battleship Division Six put to sea without delay and escorted both convoys out of the danger zone. Despite the prompt action of Admiral Rodgers and the ships under his command, no German warships had been in the Atlantic, and the convoys were never in any danger. This false-alarm was the only raider-warning issued during Battleship Division Six's service in the warzone.
At the end of the war, Admiral Rodgers returned to service in the Atlantic Fleet, commanding Battleship Division Seven. He retired from the Navy in July, 1919, after 41 years of service.