This Person is Your...

This Person is Your...

This Military Service Page was created/owned by Steven Loomis (SaigonShipyard), IC3 to remember HOOPER, Stanford (Navy Cross), RADM.

If you knew or served with this Sailor and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.

Home Town Colton CA	Last Address Buried at the Arlington National Cemetery, Ft. Myers, VA.
Date of Passing Apr 06, 1955

Stanford Caldwell HOOPER
Commander, U.S. Navy
Commanding Officer, U.S.S. Fairfax
Date Of Action: World War I

Citation:

The Navy Cross is awarded to Commander Stanford C. Hooper, U.S. Navy, for distinguished service in the line of his profession as commanding officer of the U.S.S. Fairfax, engaged in the important, exacting and hazardous duty of patrolling the waters infested with enemy submarines and mines, in escorting and protecting vitally important convoys of troops and supplies through these waters, and in offensive and defensive action, vigorously and unremittingly prosecuted against all forms of enemy naval activity.

Rear Admiral Stanford C. Hooper

First "Fleet Wireless Officer" 1912
Father of Citizens' Band Radio (CB)

Stanford Caldwell Hooper was born on 16 August 1884 in Colton, Cal. and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1905. Serving in various ships of the fleet, but always with an interest in the then new art of the "wireless", Hooper was appointed Fleet Radio Officer in 1912. A radio observer during the first part of World War I, he headed the Radio Division of the Bureau of Engineering until America's entry into the war. Hooper commanded USS Fairfax (DD 93) during 1917-18 while on convoy duty, and received the Navy Cross. Following the war he became the guiding force behind the development of radio communications and electronics in the Navy, serving in various technical posts until his retirement in 1943. Rear Admiral Hooper was retained on active duty until 1945, and held offices with civilian firms in the electronics field until his death 6 April 1955. He was the recipient of many awards for his work in radio, and is honored annually by the Navy through the Rear Admiral S. C. Hooper Trophy, given to the outstanding electronics division in the Naval Reserve.

1944
Speaking at the FCC frequency allocation hearings held during late 1944, Rear Admiral Stanford C. Hooper presents a draft of an obscure project proposing a band of frequencies be set aside for veterans returning home from WWII. The thought was that many returning vets possessed the technical knowledge, ideas & skills to create a new industry based on personal communications.

1945
In January of 1945, just after Admiral Hoopers plan was announced, the FCC took unusually rapid action in announcing CB docket # 6651. The FCC commissioner E. K. Jett outlines in the July issue of the Saturday Evening Post his vision for the CB service (Citizens' Band Radio).

USS Hooper (DE 1026) (1958-1973) was the first ship to be named in his honor.

Hooper was born in Colton, California, and educated in the San Bernardino public schools. At age 8 his father built him a telegraph transmitter and taught him Morse code; by age 10 he was working as a relief telegraph operator during summer vacations. He entered the United States Naval Academy at age 15, and after graduation in 1905 served on various ships. From 1910-1911 he taught electricity, physics, and chemistry at the Naval Academy, then from 1912-1914 (and again 1923-1925) served as the first Fleet Radio Officer, where he created the Navy's tactical signaling codes. During 1915-1917, 1919-1923 and 1926-1928 he was in charge of the Navy's Radio Division. In 1917-1918 he commanded the USS Fairfax (DD-93), for which he was awarded the Navy Cross for distinguished service. In 1922 supervised installation of the first wireless telephone in the White House for President Warren Harding. In 1928 he was appointed the Chief Engineer for the new Federal Radio Commission, the predecessor of the Federal Communications Commission. Afterward he served as Director of Naval Communications from 1928 to 1934, and on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations in various capacities until June 1942, having won promotion to rear admiral in June 1938. He was forcibly retired in January 1943 following a clash with Federal Communications Commission chairman James Lawrence Fly in mid 1942, though remained activated until June 1945. He became a contractor with commercial electronics firms after retiring until his death.

HOOPER, Stanford, RADM

Rear Admiral Stanford C. Hooper