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Contact Info
Home Town Flint, MI
Date of Passing Feb 15, 1976
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Wall/Plot Coordinates 2 4735-B
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Admiral Maurice E. Curts graduated from United States Naval Academy in 1919. He studied the emerging technology of radio at the Naval Postgraduate School in Annapolis, Maryland and Harvard University between 1926 and 1928. These studies led to his assignment as Officer-in-Charge, Radio and Sound, Naval Research Laboratory from 1936 to 1938, where he earned a commendation from the Secretary of the Navy for his outstanding contributions in the development of radar.
At the outbreak of World War II, Admiral Curts was the Communications Officer for the staff of Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his successful and innovative organization of joint communications during the first months of the war.
Admiral Curts was awarded the Navy Cross and Silver Star Medal for extraordinary heroism while commanding the cruiser USS COLUMBIA during the Leyte Gulf landings, the Battle of Surigao Strait, the Lingayen Gulf landings and the liberation of Borneo. During the initial Lingayen Gulf landings, he continued to lead his cruiser in action despite severe damage inflicted by two suicide planes which had left 100 of his men dead or wounded.
As Chief of Staff and Aide to Commander, FIRST Carrier Task Force, Pacific Fleet, Admiral Curts was present at the formal surrender of the Japanese on board the battleship USS MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay on 02 September 1945.
Following the close of World War II, Admiral Curts served as Force Commander, Operational Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet; Assistant Chief of Naval Operations (Readiness); and Deputy Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet, serving with great distinction until 13 January 1956. On that date, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Admiral Curts Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet. Admiral Curts served in that capacity until 01 February 1958. One month later, he assumed duty as Commander, Western Sea Frontier, serving in that capacity until his retirement on 01 April 1960.
Other Comments:
Navy Cross
Awarded for Actions During World War II
Service: Navy
Division: U.S.S. Columbia (CL-56)
General Orders: Commander 7th Fleet: Serial 27-F (March 1945)
Citation: The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Rear Admiral [then Captain] Maurice Edwin Curts (NSN: 0-55964), United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service in the line of his profession as Commanding Officer of the Light Cruiser U.S.S. COLUMBIA (CL-56), in action against enemy Japanese forces during the amphibious landings on Leyte and during the Battle for Leyte Gulf from 17 to 29 October 1944. Skillfully directing his ship in an assignment of vital importance, Rear Admiral Curts courageously maneuvered through enemy-infested waters during the approach on Leyte Gulf and, continually providing alert and effective defense for our invasion forces against hostile air attacks, furnished close-in bombardment support for the actual landings. In the course of this action, his ship assisted in the sinking of at least one Japanese battleship, a cruiser and six destroyers, thereby contributing materially to the success of our operations in this area. By his courageous leadership and gallant devotion to duty, Rear Admiral Curts upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Attack on Pearl Harbor
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
December / 1941
Description The attack on Pearl Harbor, also known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor, the Hawaii Operation or Operation AI by the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, and Operation Z during planning, was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States' entry into World War II.
Japan intended the attack as a preventive action to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan planned in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. Over the next seven hours there were coordinated Japanese attacks on the U.S.-held Philippines, Guam and Wake Island and on the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
The attack commenced at 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time. The base was attacked by 353 Imperial Japanese fighter planes, bombers, and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four sunk. All but Arizona were later raised, and six were returned to service and went on to fight in the war. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded. Important base installations such as the power station, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building (also home of the intelligence section) were not attacked. Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 64 servicemen killed. One Japanese sailor, Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured.
The attack came as a profound shock to the American people and led directly to the American entry into World War II in both the Pacific and European theaters. The following day, December 8, the United States declared war on Japan. Domestic support for non-interventionism, which had been fading since the Fall of France in 1940,[19] disappeared. Clandestine support of the United Kingdom (e.g., the Neutrality Patrol) was replaced by active alliance. Subsequent operations by the U.S. prompted Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy to declare war on the U.S. on December 11, which was reciprocated by the U.S. the same day.
From the 1950s, several writers alleged that parties high in the U.S. and British governments knew of the attack in advance and may have let it happen (or even encouraged it) with the aim of bringing the U.S. into war. However, this advance-knowledge conspiracy theory is rejected by mainstream historians.
There were numerous historical precedents for unannounced military action by Japan. However, the lack of any formal warning, particularly while negotiations were still apparently ongoing, led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to proclaim December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy". Because the attack happened without a declaration of war and without explicit warning, the attack on Pearl Harbor was judged by the Tokyo Trials to be a war crime.
