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Contact Info
Home Town Shepherdstown W.V.
Last Address Elmwood Cemetery, Shepherdstown, Jefferson Co., WV
Date of Passing Jun 04, 1939
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Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Julian Lane Latimer Rear Admiral U.S. Navy
Navy Cross, USS Rhode Island WWI
9th Judge Advocates General of the Navy,
Commander of the Special Service Squadron,
Flag Commandant of the Philadelphia Navy Yard
and Fourth Naval District.
From 1925 to 1927 Rear Adm. Julian Lane Latimer was commander of the Special Service Squadron, a collection of five old, slow cruisers, based in Panama for patrolling Central American waters. During Latimer's duty with the squadron, U.S. Marines landed in Nicaragua to begin the second intervention.
Born in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, in 1868, Latimer graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1890. He served in Cuban waters during the Spanish-Cuban/American War and commanded the battleship RHODE ISLAND patrolling the Atlantic coast during World War I. He was made admiral in 1923.
After Gen. Emiliano Chamorro Vargas's coup d'état of October 1925, the opposition Liberal party forces raised the banner of counterrevolution on Nicaragua's eastern coast in May 1926. In response to U.S. And British consular requests at Bluefields, and with Washington's approval, Admiral Latimer sent the cruiser CLEVELAND and its marines to occupy the town and to protect the customs house and customs collector, then under U.S. Supervision. Chamorro was able to reestablish his authority along the Caribbean coast within a few weeks, but by August Latimer had to send ships to Corinto on the Pacific side and again to Bluefields because of disturbed conditions. As Nicaragua was about to begin a new revolutionary cycle, Latimer and the United States chargé d' affaires, Lawrence Dennis, talked with antagonists to arrange a conference in October at Corinto aboard the DENVER, another of Latimer's old cruisers. Although the conferees reached no agreement, Chamorro resigned by the end of the month and Adolfo Dîaz, a former conservative president, emerged as the new head of state.
The United States extended diplomatic recognition to Dîaz's government, but because he was no more acceptable to the Liberals than Chamorro had been, the revolution continued. Latimer responded to pleas for protection from U.S. Citizens by creating neutral zones, including one at Puerto Cabezas, where the Liberal claimant to the presidency had established his government. Another zone in which fighting was prohibited was established along Nicaragua's Pacific Railroad from the west coast port of Corinto to Managua. Although neutral zones were created primarily to protect lives and property of U.S. Citizens, they also controlled Liberal bases in a manner that favored the Conservative government. When Liberals attempted to collect an export tax on mahogany logs, Latimer instructed U.S.-owned companies to pay taxes only to the government. There were also charges that Latimer had ordered the destruction of ammunition belonging to the Liberals at Puerto Cabezas, and there was criticism, denied by Latimer, that Conservative forces used the railway while the Liberals were excluded.
Admiral Latimer briefed Henry L. Stimson when Stimson arrived in April 1927 as President Calvin Coolidge's special emissary to resolve the Nicaraguan situation. Latimer understood Stimpson's arranged peace to include a threat to disarm forcibly Liberal troops if they did not surrender arms voluntarily. Disarmament went well except for Augusto C. Sandino's small group which at first seemed no great problem. After about a month of waiting, while Sandino appeared increasingly defiant, Latimer on 2 July ordered the marines to begin operations against the rebels, which led to the bloody engagement on Ocotal. Although the U.S. Marine and Nicaraguan national guard offensive into Nueva Segovia Province was successful in occupying towns and defending Sandinista attacks, Sandino remained free and armed. Shortly before the Battle of Ocotal, Rear Adm. David F. Sellers arrived in Panama and replaced Latimer, who had requested to be relieved as commander of the Special Service Squadron.
Latmer received praise as a sea-going diplomat rom an observant New York Times reporter who wrote that Latimer combined his military duties with "tactful essays" toward settling the Liberal-Conservative dispute. In conversations with President Dâz, presidential claimant Juan B. Sacasa, and Liberal General José Marâ Moncada, Latimer seemed to have both sides' respect for his efforts to achieve peace.
In November 1927 Latimer received command of the Fourth Naval District of Philadelphia. He retired in 1930 and died nine years later.
Other Comments:
Navy Cross, USS Rhode Island WWI
LATIMER, JULIAN L. Captain, U.S. Navy
Commanding Officer, U.S.S. Rhode Island
Date of Action: World War I
Citation:
The Navy Cross is presented to Julian L. Latimer, Captain, U.S. Navy, for exceptionally meritorious service in a duty of great responsibility as Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. Rhode Island, in the Atlantic Fleet.
World War I
From Month/Year
April / 1917
To Month/Year
November / 1918
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 He served in Cuban waters during the Spanish-Cuban/American War and commanded the battleship RHODE ISLAND patrolling the Atlantic coast during World War I. He was made admiral in 1923.
