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Admiral David Sellers served as the Judge Advocate General of the US Navy and Superintendent of the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.
From February 1914 until June 1916, he served as executive officer of the battleship USS Arkansas and then commanded the cruisers USS Birmingham and USS Salem. After his tour on the USS Salem was completed, he attended the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, graduating in April 1917, just as the US entered World War I.
He became commander of the transport USS Agamemnon, until the end of the War in 1918. Following World War I, he served on the staff of the Naval War College and for a 2nd tour with the Bureau of Navigation. While there, he also served as Naval Aide to Secretary of the Navy Edwin C. Denby in 1921 and from 1922 to 1923 he commanded the battleship USS Maryland.
In 1923, he became commander of the Naval Training Station in San Diego, California, and in September 1926, he became the chief of staff to the Commander, Scouting Fleet. In 1927, he was promoted to the rank of rear admiral and served as Commander, Special Service Squadron during the Nicaraguan Uprising.
From 1929 until 1931, he served as Judge Advocate General of the Navy, in Washington DC, followed by Commander, Battleship Division One from 1931 until 1932. In 1932, he was promoted to the temporary rank of vice admiral and was assigned as Commander, Battleships Battle Force, US Fleet. In June 1933, he was promoted to the temporary rank of admiral and was assigned as Commander-in-Chief US Fleet, serving in that position until June 1934.
He then became the Superintendent of the US Naval Academy, serving in this capacity until his retirement in March 1938, with 44 years of continued military service. Retired at his permanent rank of rear admiral, he was advanced to the rank of admiral on the retired list in June 1942 by Act of Congress that allowed an officer to retire at the highest grade that he served while on active duty.
After his retirement, he served on the Board of Directors of Children's Hospital in Washington DC. He died in Bethesda, Maryland on January 27, 1949, at the age of 74.
Other Comments:
USS Sellers, a guided missile destroyer, was named in his honor.
David Sellers was the son of a career US Army officer. In May 1890, he was selected to attend the US Naval Academy and graduated in June 1894. He served two years at sea, as required by law, and was commissioned an ensign in July 1896.
During the Spanish-American War, he participated in the Samoan Campaign and the Philippine-American War while serving aboard the armored cruiser USS New York. From 1904 until 1907, he commanded the destroyer USS Stewart, after which he did shore duty at the Bureau of Navigation in Washington DC, with additional duty as a Naval Aide to the White House, until 1908.
He then performed sea duty on the USS New Hampshire, where he served on the staff of the Commander-In-Chief, US Asiatic Fleet, Rear Admiral William S. Cowles. In 1909, he was involved with outfitting the battleship USS Michigan at the US Navy Yard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and served from her commissioning in 1910 until May 1912.
He returned to shore duty in Hampton Roads, Virginia, temporarily, as an aide to the commander of a division of German ships that was visiting the US, and in July 1912 he was sent to San Francisco, California for duty in connection with the Panama Pacific International Exposition.
Among his military decorations and awards include the Navy Cross, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal, the Spanish Campaign Medal, the Philippine Campaign Medal, the Mexican Service Medal, the 2nd Nicaraguan Campaign Medal, the World War I Victory Medal with transport clasp, the Nicaraguan Gold Medal of Merit and the Medal of Merit, and the Ecuadorian Order of Abdon Calderon.
