BAGBY-OLIVER

AN  ILLUSTRIOUS  CAREER

Oliver Walton Bagby Jr. was born December 26, 1916 in Washington, DC, and graduated with the class of 1938 from the United States Naval Academy.  His first assignments were aboard the battleship USS Maryland and the destroyer USS Montgomery.  After Submarine School he served aboard two submarines before serving as Executive Officer and then Commanding Officer of the submarine USS Bang.  In this assignment, at age 24, he was the youngest submarine commander in the U.S. Navy.  It has been reported that during World War II he participated in twelve submarine war patrols.

After World War II, he was assigned to the Reserve Fleet in New London, Connecticut, and later took command of the submarine USS Charr.   After completing studies at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, CAPT Bagby was assigned to the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington, DC.  His next assignment was as COMSUBDIV 22.  He was on the staff of the Navy Post Graduate School in Monterey, California, followed by service in Turkey as Officer in Charge of operations of the American Advisory Detachment to the Turkish Navy.  He became Chief of Staff for the U.S. Naval Advisory Group to Turkey in 1959.  In 1961 he assumed command of the amphibious attack transport, USS Lenawee, followed by command of the heavy cruiser, USS Helena.  He returned to Washington in 1963 to OPNAV in the Navy Political Military Police Division and was the Navy's Director of Foreign Military Assistance.

Captain Bagby retired in 1968 after a thirty-year naval career.  After his naval career he managed seminars for foreign naval officers at the University of Pittsburgh.  In 1970 he again returned to Washington, DC, as Senior Management Analyst for the Secretary of Transportation until his second retirement in 1979.  Captain Oliver Walton Bagby Jr. died on January 15, 2006 at Red Hook, New Jersey, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)