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.
Contact Info
Home Town Paris, France
Last Address New London, Connecticut
Date of Passing Dec 12, 1972
Location of Interment U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery and Columbarium (VLM) - Annapolis, Maryland
Wall/Plot Coordinates Section 1 Site 191
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Thomas Hinckley Robbins, Jr. (11 May 1900 – 12 December 1972) was a rear admiral of the United States Navy. A naval aviator, his career included command of an aircraft carrier during World War II, service as a key advisor to the United States Secretary of the Navy, and a tour as President of the Naval War College.
Robbins' ancestors included William Bradford (1590-1657), the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and Thomas Hinckley (1618-1706), a governor of Plymouth Colony. His great-great-grandfather was Fisher Ames (1758-1808), a Massachusetts politician who served in the United States House of Representatives.
Robbins was born on 11 May 1900 in Paris, France, the son of Thomas Hinckley Robbins, Sr. (9 April 1877 – 14 November 1954), and the former Alice Ames (23 September 1873 – 23 October 1951). He entered the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, as a member of the Class of 1920, but his curriculum was accelerated due to the entry of the United States into World War I on 6 April 1917, and he graduated in 1919. Robbins retired from the Navy as a rear admiral in 1962.
Other Comments:
Commands held:
USS Sandpiper (AM-51)
USS Lexington (CV-16)
Carrier Division 17
Carrier Division 2
President of the Naval War College
President, Naval Discharge Review Board
Commandant, Potomac River Naval Command
Battles/wars:
World War II
Pacific War
Battle of Okinawa
Battle of Luzon
Japan campaign
Awards:
Commendation Ribbon (1944)
Legion of Merit (two awards, 1945 and 1962, 1945 award with Combat "V")
Other Memories Robbins entered the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1936, graduating in 1937. He then became aviation officer at the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport in 1937 before returning to the Naval War College to serve on its staff from 1938 to 1939.
Robbins became chief of staff of the Naval War College in 1953. When the tour of the college's 28th president, Vice Admiral Richard L. Conolly, ended on 2 November 1953. Robbins served as acting president until the 29th president, Vice Admiral Lynde D. McCormick, began his tour on 3 May 1954, after which Robbins served as McCormick's chief of staff. When McCormick became the first of the college's presidents to die in office on 16 August 1956, Robbins again became acting president, serving in this capacity until himself becoming the college's 30th president on 5 September 1956.
During his presidency, Robbins instituted a new course for senior officers of foreign navies that McCormick had established before his death.
After leaving the college on 1 August 1957, Robbins became President of the Naval Discharge Review Board at the Bureau of Naval Personnel at the Department of the Navy in Washington, D.C., the first Naval War College president since World War II to remain in active Navy service after his presidency.
