Background
The son of Commodore Oscar Badger (1823–1899), Charles Badger was born August 6, 1853, in Rockville, Maryland.
The son of Commodore Oscar Badger (1823–1899), Charles Badger was born August 6, 1853, in Rockville, Maryland.
He attended the United States Naval Academy, graduating in 1873.
He served for three years, 1876-79, on the Asiatic Station. After assignments in the Coast Survey, in the Yantic, and at the Boston navy yard, he was made executive officer of the steamer Alert, one of the ships under Captain Schley which in 1884 rescued the seven survivors of the Greely Arctic expedition at Cape Sabine.
During the war with Spain he served in the cruiser Cincinnati on the Cuban blockade and in the occupation of Puerto Rico. He later commanded the Chicago. He was senior naval officer at San Francisco in 1906 and after the earthquake took effective measures with army and civil authorities to preserve order and organize relief.
On July 1, 1907, Badger attained his captaincy and for the next two years was superintendent of the Naval Academy where his fair yet strict treatment of midshipmen is said to have suggested the nickname "Square Deal" Badger. He then took command of the Kansas, of the Atlantic Fleet, 1909-11. After his promotion to rear admiral, in March 1911, he commanded the Second Division of the Atlantic Fleet in the flagship Louisiana.
During a European cruise in the following summer his division visited several Baltic ports and its officers were entertained by royalty at Kronstadt and Kiel. From January 1913 to September 1914 he was commander-in-chief of the Atlantic Fleet. At the outbreak of trouble with Mexico in 1914, the readiness of his command was demonstrated. It sailed from home ports on less than twenty-four hours' notice and arrived at Vera Cruz on April 22, the day after the occupation of the city. Badger directed the landing of reinforcements, and though the army later assumed control ashore, he showed excellent judgment in directing the naval forces during the trying period of the following summer. When he went ashore Secretary of the Navy Daniels expressed "unreserved and sincere appreciation" of his work as commander-in-chief. In the ensuing period of rapid naval expansion and participation in the World War he was a member of the General Board of the Navy and was retained after 1916, when he was due for retirement, until he was detached at his own request in February 1921. He had become head of the board after Admiral Dewey's death in 1917.
Badger's interests were primarily in his profession and in the upbuilding of the navy, his advocacy of which appears in his one noteworthy published article, "The Larger American Navy". After his retirement he lived in Washington, with a summer home at Blue Ridge Summit.
His death from heart trouble occurred at his summer home, and his burial was in Arlington.
In physique he was above average height, of heavy build and sandy complexion.
He was married on October 4, 1882, to Sophia Champlin of St. Paul, and had two children, Oscar Charles, who entered the naval service, and Elizabeth.
