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Contact Info
Home Town Pattersonville, Louisiana
Last Address Coronado, California
Date of Passing May 24, 1937
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Jehu Valentine Chasewas born in Pattersonville, Louisiana, 10 January 1869, and graduated from the Naval Academy 6 June 1890.
As commanding officer of USS Minnesota when she was mined in September 1918, Chase was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in recognition of his splendid seamanship and leadership in bringing his ship safely to port without loss of life.
Admiral Chase was Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, from 17 September 1930 to 15 September 1931, and Chairman of the General Board from April 1932 until his retirement in February 1933.
He died at Coronado, Calif., 24 May 1937. Chase (DE-158) was named in his honor.
Admiral Chase was buried with full military honors in Section 1 of Arlington National Cemetery. His wife, Mary Taylor Chase (1873-1950) is buried with him.
His grandson, James Franklin Caldwell, Captain, United States Navy, is also buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
His father-in-law, Henry Clay Taylor, Rear Admiral, United States Navy, is also buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
ADMIRAL J. V. CHASE DIES IN CALIFORNIA
Former Commander-in-Chief of United States Fleet (Full Admiral)
Was 46 Years in the Navy
Had Served in Two Wars
Honored for his Work in Saving his Battleship, the Minnesota, Hit by Mine in 1918
CORONADO, California, May 25, 1937 – Rear Admiral Jehu V. Chase, former commander of the United States Fleet, died yesterday in a Coronado hospital at the age of 68.
A veteran of the Spanish-American War and World Wars, Admiral Chase has a long and exceptionally distinguished career in the United States Navy. He was for a year a full Admiral while he served a Commander-in-Chief of the United States Fleet and his last post was chairman of the Navy’s General Board.
He served more than forty-six years in the Navy, until February 1, 1933, when he retired as a Rear Admiral, a rank to which he had reverted after heading the fleet. His career included long cruises, great danger and expert testimony before Congressional committees. He was a gunnery and ordnance expert.
On September 29, 1918, the battleship, with him in command, struck a mine, presumably laid by a German submarine, off the Delaware Breakwater. Under his command, the warship reached port without the loss of life. For his World War services he received the Distinguished Service Medal. The citation follows:
“For exceptionally meritorious service in a duty of great responsibility as commanding officer of the USS Minnesota and also for the splendid seamanship shown in bringing the Minnesota safely into port after being mined, with a hole in here underwater body approximately thirty feet long and extending afterward ships from port side of keel to starboard armor shelf and protective deck, without loss of life.”
Born in Pattersonville, Louisiana, Admiral Chase entered the Untied States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, in September 1885, and was graduated in 1890. He was commissioned Ensign in 1892, promoted to Lieutenant in 1899, Lieutenant Commander in 1905, Commander in 1911, Captain in 1916, Rear Admiral in 1922. He was Commander-in-Chief of the United States Fleet from September 17, 1930 to September 15, 1931.
He served on the USS Newport when the United States was at war with Spain in 1898. From 1902 to 1905 he commanded the USS Whipple and from 1905 to 1907 he was commander of the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Rhode Island.
He became navigator of the USS Kearsarge in 1907 and was with the Great White Fleet that went around the world when President Theodore Roosevelt demonstrated the strength of the Navy in that year.
Admiral Chase became flag secretary for the commander of the Third Squadron, Pacific Fleet, in 1910 and later that year commander of the USS Tallahassee. He served as inspector of ordnance at the Whitehead Torpedo Works, Weymouth, England, in 1911-12 and commanded the USS Monterey in 1912-13 and the USS Cincinnati in 1913-14.
From 1914 to 1917 Admiral Chase was a member of the special board of ordnance. While the United States was a war with Germany he commanded the USS Minnesota.
After the peace he served with the Bureau of Ordnance and later that year assumed command of the Base Force, Pacific Fleet. In 1924 he became commandant to the Thirteenth Naval District and from 1926 to 1928 he was in command of Battleship Division Four, Battle Fleet. He was on duty with the General Board of the Navy from 1928 to 1930.
In 1931, after relinquishing the fleet command, the Admiral joined the General Board, becoming its Chairman in April 1932, and continuing in that post until his retirement.
In 1921, the United States Naval Institute, composes of navy officers stationed throughout the world, awarded it annual gold medal and $200 for the best essay on a naval subject to Admiral Chase. His subject was “Accuracy on Fire at Long Ranges.”
In 1930 he told the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations that the London Naval Treaty left the United States in an inferior position, holding that parity would not be achieved under the treaty in all classes of ships with Great Britain of Japan.
Spanish-American War
From Month/Year
April / 1898
To Month/Year
August / 1898
Description The Spanish–American War (Spanish: Guerra hispano-estadounidense or Guerra hispano-americana; Filipino: Digmaang Espanyol-Amerikano) was a conflict fought between Spain and the United States in 1898. Hostilities began in the aftermath of the internal explosion of the USS Maine in Havana harbor in Cuba leading to United States intervention in the Cuban War of Independence. American acquisition of Spain's Pacific possessions led to its involvement in the Philippine Revolution and ultimately in the Philippine–American War.
Revolts had been occurring for some years in Cuba against Spanish rule. The U.S. later backed these revolts upon entering the Spanish–American War. There had been war scares before, as in the Virginius Affair in 1873. In the late 1890s, US public opinion was agitated by anti-Spanish propaganda led by newspaper publishers such as Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst which used yellow journalism to call for war. The business community across the United States had just recovered from a deep depression, and feared that a war would reverse the gains. They lobbied vigorously against going to war.
The US Navy battleship Maine was mysteriously sunk in Havana harbor; political pressures from the Democratic Party pushed the administration of Republican President William McKinley into a war that he had wished to avoid.[9] Spain promised time and time again that it would reform, but never delivered. The United States sent an ultimatum to Spain demanding that it surrender control of Cuba. First Madrid declared war, and Washington then followed suit.
The main issue was Cuban independence; the ten-week war was fought in both the Caribbean and the Pacific. US naval power proved decisive, allowing expeditionary forces to disembark in Cuba against a Spanish garrison already facing nationwide Cuban insurgent attacks and further wasted by yellow fever. Numerically superior Cuban, Philippine, and US forces obtained the surrender of Santiago de Cuba and Manila despite the good performance of some Spanish infantry units and fierce fighting for positions such as San Juan Hill. Madrid sued for peace with two obsolete Spanish squadrons sunk in Santiago de Cuba and Manila Bay and a third, more modern fleet recalled home to protect the Spanish coasts.
The result was the 1898 Treaty of Paris, negotiated on terms favorable to the US which allowed it temporary control of Cuba and ceded ownership of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine islands. The cession of the Philippines involved payment of $20 million ($575,760,000 today) to Spain by the US to cover infrastructure owned by Spain.
The defeat and collapse of the Spanish Empire was a profound shock to Spain's national psyche, and provoked a thorough philosophical and artistic revaluation of Spanish society known as the Generation of '98.[ The United States gained several island possessions spanning the globe and a rancorous new debate over the wisdom of expansionism. It was one of only five US wars (against a total of eleven sovereign states) to have been formally declared by Congress.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
April / 1898
To Month/Year
August / 1898
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories He served on the USS Newport when the United States was at war with Spain in 1898. From 1902 to 1905 he commanded the USS Whipple and from 1905 to 1907 he was commander of the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Rhode Island.