This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Steven Loomis (SaigonShipyard), IC3
to remember
Rommel, Herbert Fox, Jr. ("Herb"), CAPT USN(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Lansdowne, PA
Date of Passing Jun 10, 2007
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
His main career and passion were with the Navy, and he was a well-known veteran and sailor. Rommel enlisted in the Naval Reserve in 1934 as an apprentice seaman and was commissioned as an ensign in 1938. He reported for active duty aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma in 1940. He was on board the Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, preparing to attend a pistol match when he heard the explosions. "I went to see what was going on," Rommel said in an interview published in Newport Life Magazine. "As I reached the deck, I saw a plane with bright red balls beneath its wings fly right over me. The officer of the deck sounded air defense on the bugle. I ran aft toward the turret. On the way, I grabbed the intercom and announced over the loudspeaker, "This is a real air raid. This is no (expletive deleted)." Rommel went on to serve aboard the USS Gridley for the next three years of the war. During his war service, he collected 12 battle stars and a Bronze Star with combat "V". He was promoted until he became the commander of the USS Wilkes at the end of the war. "That was the most damn fun I ever had," Rommel told friends. He was one of only four Naval Reserve officers to command a destroyer during World War II. He broke the tradition that only regular Navy men were allowed to drive. He first came to Newport after the war to attend General Line School, "to learn what I should have known during the war," he later said. After officers school, he became commanding officer of Naval Station Washington, D.C. During the next two decades, he commanded five different ships and enjoyed four tours of duty in Newport. He retired in 1969.
Other Comments:
USS HERBERT (DD-160): Seaman USNR - 1934-1937
USS Oklahoma (BB-37): Ensign - Commanding No 4 Turret Division - 1940-1941
USS GRIDLEY (DD-380): Commissary Officer / Navigator / Executive Officer - 1942-1944
USS WILKES (DD-441): Command - 1945-1946
GENERAL LINE SCHOOL, Newport - 1946
USS BURKE (DE-215/APD 65): Command - 1947 - 1948
NAVAL WAR COLLEGE, Newport: Pupil - 1949
GENERAL LINE SCHOOL (USN): Staff - 1950
USS HAYNSWORTH (DD-700): Command - 1950 - 1952
OP NAV (STRATEGIC PLANS DIVISION): Staff - 1953
USS WORCESTER (CL-144): Executive Officer - 1954 - 1955
NAVAL WAR COLLEGE, Newport: Staff - 1956-1960
USS AMPHION (AR-13): Command - 1960-1961 CINCLANTFLEET: Staff - 1962 USS HYADES (AF-28): Command - 1962-1963
NAVAL STATION, Washington DC: Commander - 1963-1966
NAVAL STATION, Newport: Chief of Staff - 1967-1969
Description The plan of the Pacific subseries was determined by the geography, strategy, and the military organization of a theater largely oceanic. Two independent, coordinate commands, one in the Southwest Pacific under General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and the other in the Central, South, and North Pacific (Pacific Ocean Areas) under Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, were created early in the war. Except in the South and Southwest Pacific, each conducted its own operations with its own ground, air, and naval forces in widely separated areas. These operations required at first only a relatively small number of troops whose efforts often yielded strategic gains which cannot be measured by the size of the forces involved. Indeed, the nature of the objectivesùsmall islands, coral atolls, and jungle-bound harbors and airstrips, made the employment of large ground forces impossible and highlighted the importance of air and naval operations. Thus, until 1945, the war in the Pacific progressed by a double series of amphibious operations each of which fitted into a strategic pattern developed in Washington.
