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Admiral Masterson, then a lieutenant, was a crew member of the USS Arizona when it was sunk during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He was at his quarters on shore when the attack began but arrived at dockside to see the ship engulfed in flames.
Vice Adm. Kleber Sandlin Masterson, 89, a battleship gunnery officer in World War II and an ordnance expert who helped build the Navy's arsenal of nuclear missiles, died May 3 at Inova Alexandria Hospital in Alexandria, Va.
As a newly promoted rear admiral in 1957, Vice Admiral Masterson commanded the missile division in the Office of Naval Operations and joined a ballistic missiles committee that played a leading role in equipping the Navy's nuclear submarine fleet with Polaris missiles.
Vice Admiral Masterson later commanded the U.S. 2nd Fleet and the Striking Fleet Atlantic of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, based in Norfolk, Va. When he retired in 1969, he was director of the Weapons Evaluation Group, part of the Pentagon, in Washington.
Vice Admiral Masterson, who was born in San Jon, N.M., graduated from the Naval Academy in 1930. He also graduated from the Naval War College.
In 1939, he was assigned to the USS Arizona, and on Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor, he was at his shore quarters and saw the Arizona aflame and sinking at dockside.
Then, as gunnery officer of the USS Pennsylvania, he took part in the Attu-Kiska campaign in Alaska in 1943 and the Marshall Islands campaign in the western Pacific in 1944. He was decorated when the Pennsylvania won a citation for "outstanding heroism in action against enemy Japanese forces in the Pacific War."
Posted to the Bureau of Ordnance in the Navy Department, he earned a citation for outstanding performance as head of engineering planning in the bureau's Research and Planning Division. He was given a number of assignments, both at sea and ashore, before commanding the missile staff in the Office of Naval Operations.
He is survived by a son, Kleber Masterson Jr. of Alexandria, who also is a retired rear admiral; two sisters, Ruth Bliss of Flagstaff, Ariz., and Pattie Boyd of Las Vegas; two grandsons; and three great-grandchildren.
Other Comments:
His military decorations included two awards of the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Navy Commendation Medal and France's order of merit award.
All personnel attached to the Pennsylvania and actually present and serving during the period of May 4, 1943 through February 10, 1945 in the Pacific, or any part thereof, earned a Navy Unit Commendation. The commendation awarded U.S.S. Pennsylvania reads as follows.
U.S.S. Pennsylvania (BB-38) Navy Unit Commendation.
The Secretary of the Navy takes pleasure in commending
The UNITED STATES SHIP PENNSYLVANIA for service as follows:
"For outstanding heriosm in action against enemy Japanese forces in the Pacific War Area from May 4, 1943 to February 10, 1945. Operating under ten separate commands, the U.S.S. PENNSYLVANIA was the only battleship to take part in every combat amphibious operation during this period from Attu in the northern area to Lingayen in the Philippines. Imperiled by perpetual fog, she served as Flagship of the Task Force Commander during the Aleutians Campaign and navigated in poorly charted waters to deliver her accurate broadsides on predetermined but invisible targets; intensive fire from her batteries blasted the way for our assault waves in the Gilberts, the Marshalls and the Marianas, silencing the enemy's heavy coastal guns, locating and neutralizing camouflaged emplacements and rendering sturdy support for our land forces. A gallant and dependable veteran, the PENNSYLVANIA completed nearly thirty years of unfailing service by her deadly close-in bombardment and gunfire support in the recapture of the Philippines, fulfilling her prolonged and vital mission without casualty to herself or her personnel by Japanese fire. Handled superbly in the face of many obstacles throughout this period, the PENNSYLVANIA achieved an illustrious combat record, reflecting the courage, skill and brilliant teamwork of the officers who plotted her course, the pilots who spotted her gunfire and the operational force which aided in maintaining her fighting efficiency."
All personnel attached to and serving on board the U.S.S. PENNSYLVANIA during the above period are hereby authorized to wear the NAVY UNIT COMMENDATION Ribbon.
/s/ JAMES FORRESTAL
SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
Arlington
Date
Not Specified
Last Updated: Mar 18, 2011
Comments
Kleber S. Masterson, 89, a retired Vice Admiral who served as a gunnery officer on battleships in World War II and later helped lead the Navy into the age of missiles and nuclear weapons, died at Inova Alexandria Hospital in Virginia on May 3, 1998 of complications after surgery for a broken hip.
Admiral Masterson, then a lieutenant, was a crew member of the USS Arizona when it was sunk during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He was at his quarters on shore when the attack began but arrived at dockside to see the ship engulfed in flames.
He later was the gunnery officer of the USS Pennsylvania and was credited with reorganizing its antiaircraft defenses. In 1944, he was assigned to the Bureau of Ordnance, where he became head of engineering planning. His subsequent career was divided between sea duty and weapons research and development jobs.
In 1950, after commanding a destroyer division and serving as a gunnery training officer at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Admiral Masterson headed the ammunition branch in the Bureau of Ordnance. In 1953, he commanded a transport in the Korean War and then was assigned to the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project at Albuquerque.
In 1956, he was named captain of the Boston, the Navy's first guided missile cruiser. A year later, he was promoted to rear admiral and assigned to the guided missile division in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. In 1958, he became director of the division and a member of the Navy Ballistic Missiles Committee, which played an important role in developing the Polaris missiles used on nuclear submarines.
In 1961, after commanding a cruiser division in the Atlantic, Admiral Masterson was named assistant chief of naval operations for development. In 1962, he was promoted to be chief of the Bureau of Ordnance.
In 1964, he took command of the 2nd Fleet based in Norfolk and of NATO's Strike Fleet Atlantic. He commanded U.S. naval forces during the intervention in the Dominican Republic in that period. His last job was director of the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group in Washington.
After his retirement from the Navy in 1969, Admiral Masterson served four years as president of the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society.
Admiral Masterson was born in San Jon, New Mexico. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1930 and later from the Naval War College. He had assignments on an aircraft carrier and destroyers before joining the Arizona in 1939.
His military decorations included two awards of the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Navy Commendation Medal and France's order of merit award.
Admiral Masterson established his residence in the Washington area in the 1940s. He lived in Arlington before moving to Goodwin House West in Falls Church about 10 years ago. He was a member of the Army Navy Country Club, the Order of the Carabao, the U.S. Naval Institute, the Navy History Foundation and Columbia Country Club.
His wife, the former Charlotte Elizabeth Parker, whom he married in 1931, died in 1986. A son, Clarence Marshall Masterson, died in 1959.
Survivors include a son, retired Navy Rear Admiral Kleber S. Masterson Jr. of Alexandria; two sisters, Ruth Bliss of Flagstaff, Ariz., and Pattie Boyd of Las Vegas; two grandsons; and three great-grandchildren.
