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Contact Info
Home Town Joplin/Jasper, Missouri
Last Address Born in Joplin, Missouri High School in Grafton, Illinois Halls Preparatory School, Columbia, Missouri Direct selection to RAdm by President Kennedy Knighted (KBE) by Her Majesty the Queen, 1972 Died in San Diego, California in 1993
Date of Passing Apr 05, 1993
Location of Interment San Marcos Cemetery - San Marcos, California
Vice Admiral Levering Smith, USN (Ret)
The Navy's Ordnance Engineering Duty Only (OEDO) specialist
Admiral Sir Levering Smith, KBE
Levering Smith, was a retired Navy Vice Admiral who played a leading role in giving the nation its undersea deterrent of nuclear missile submarines.
Levering Smith graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in June 1932. During World War II, he participated in campaigns and engagements in the Pacific including the Battles of Santa Cruz and Lunga Point, and surviving the sinkings of the aircraft carrier USS HORNET and the cruiser USS NORTHAMPTON. He also took part in the Battle of the Philippine Sea in the cruiser USS INDIANAPOLIS.
Navy leaders consider Adm. Smith on a par with the late Adm. Hyman G. Rickover in pushing submarine technology to unprecedented heights. Adm. Smith quietly developed the Polaris, Poseidon and Trident ballistic missiles for submarines, while Rickover flamboyantly championed nuclear propulsion.
As well as being a brilliant scientist and engineer, Adm. Smith had a sense of mission about his work. He believed that once the United States and the Soviet Union had invulnerable retaliatory missiles under the sea, neither would tip the balance of terror by attacking the other in a surprise first strike.
Three times he received the highest navy award for noncombat service, the Distinguished Service Medal. He was awarded the American Defense Service Medal with one star, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with eleven stars, and many more. On January 7, 1972, Rear Admiral Smith received a high "Order of Chivalry" from Queen Elizabeth II of England. This made him "Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire." His technical peers showed their respect by the L. T. E. Thompson Award (1957, Naval Ordnance Test Station). He was also awarded the C. N. Hickman Award (1957, American Rocket Society); the American Society of Naval Engineers Gold Medal (1961); the William S. Parsons Award (1961, Navy League of the United States); the Gold Knight of Management Award (1972, National Management Association); and an honorary doctor of laws degree (New Mexico State University). Levering was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1965.
Admiral Smith also received The Captain Robert Dexter Conrad award which consists of a gold medal and a citation signed by the Secretary of the Navy.
Other Comments:
Levering Smith Award
Established in 1986, The Vice Admiral Levering Smith Award for Submarine Support Achievement recognizes specific or continuing submarine support actions which have most contributed to the furtherance of the spirit or fighting mettle of the Submarine Force. Submarine support actions shall include service in submarine support activities, submarine maintenance and training activities, and other such activities engaged in direct support of the operating Submarine Force. One award is presented annually to a Navy or Naval Reserve service member (Officer or Enlisted) lieutenant commander or junior.
Guadalcanal Campaign (1942-43)/Battle of Tassafaronga
From Month/Year
November / 1942
To Month/Year
November / 1942
Description The Battle of Tassafaronga, sometimes referred to as the Fourth Battle of Savo Island or, in Japanese sources, as the Battle of Lunga Point, was a nighttime naval battle that took place on November 30, 1942 between United States (US) Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy warships during the Guadalcanal campaign. The battle took place in Ironbottom Sound near the Tassafaronga area on Guadalcanal.
In the battle, a US warship force of five cruisers and four destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral Carleton H. Wright attempted to surprise and destroy a Japanese warship force of eight destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral Raizo Tanaka. Tanaka's warships were attempting to deliver food supplies to Japanese forces on Guadalcanal.
Using radar, the US warships gained surprise, opened fire, and sank one of the Japanese destroyers. Tanaka and the rest of his ships, however, reacted quickly and launched numerous torpedoes at the US warships. The Japanese torpedoes hit and sank one US cruiser and heavily damaged three others, enabling the rest of Tanaka's force to escape without significant additional damage but also without completing the intended supply delivery mission. Although a severe tactical defeat for the US, the battle had little strategic impact as the Japanese were unable to take advantage of the victory to further resupply or otherwise assist in their ultimately unsuccessful efforts to recapture Guadalcanal from Allied forces.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
November / 1942
To Month/Year
December / 1942
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories Levering Smith graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in June 1932. During World War II, he participated in campaigns and engagements in the Pacific including the Battles of Santa Cruz and Lunga Point, and surviving the sinkings of the aircraft carrier USS HORNET and the cruiser USS NORTHAMPTON at the Battle of Tassafaronga. He also took part in the Battle of the Philippine Sea in the cruiser USS INDIANAPOLIS.
