Background
Claude Bloch was born on July 12, 1878, in Woodbury, Kentucky, United States, the son of Adolph Bloch, a broker; there is no record of his mother's name.
Claude Bloch was born on July 12, 1878, in Woodbury, Kentucky, United States, the son of Adolph Bloch, a broker; there is no record of his mother's name.
Claude Bloch attended Ogden College in his home state before entering the United States Naval Academy in 1895. He graduated in the top third of his class at Annapolis in January 1899.
After graduation Claude Bloch served aboard the gunboat Wheeling in operations related to the Philippine Insurrection and the Boxer Rebellion. Assigned to important billets in gunnery, then considered essential for advancement in the navy, Bloch had many duties at the prestigious Bureau of Ordnance. He was the inspector of powder for the entire East Coast during 1905; an aide from 1907 to 1909 to the commanders in chief of the Pacific Fleet; and a tester of guns at the Naval Proving Grounds at Indian Head, Maryland, from 1909 to 1911. He also served along the Atlantic seaboard and in Cuban waters on the battleships Virginia (1906 - 1907), Delaware (1911 - 1913), Maine (1913), and Arizona (1916 - 1918). During the summer of 1918 he commanded the Plattsburg, which convoyed American troops to Europe. After commanding the battleship Massachusetts, he completed his World War I service at the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. From December 1918 until May 1921, Bloch was assistant to the chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, after which he commanded mine forces and the minelayer Baltimore in the Pacific. Bloch held key staff positions on battleships in the Pacific before inspecting ordnance in Virginia and Maryland during 1923. He held the permanent rank of captain but was temporarily advanced to rear admiral.
Reverting to the rank of captain, Bloch commanded the battleship California in the Pacific between 1927 and 1929, attended the Naval War College in 1929, and spent the next year as commandant at the Washington Navy Yard. Although the tall, ruddy-faced, and mild-mannered Bloch was known as a trim, quietly efficient officer who avoided publicity, he became a major figure in the navy during the 1930's. He argued so forcibly for preparedness in order to "beat the enemy to the punch" that the press dubbed him the "Jack Dempsey of the Navy. " Promoted in 1931 to rear admiral, then the highest permanent rank in the navy, he commanded the training squadron of the scouting force until May 1933. He then became budget officer for the Navy Department, and from 1934 to 1936 he was judge advocate general of the navy.
Especially adept at tactics, Bloch was given command of a battleship division in June 1936 and the following January took over the battle force in the temporary rank of full admiral. On January 29, 1938, he became commander in chief of the United States Fleet, based on the West Coast. In the spring of 1939, with his flag on the battleship Pennsylvania, he took the fleet to the Caribbean for annual war games. However, the deepening crisis with Japan caused the fleet's premature return to the West Coast. In accord with normal command rotation, Bloch was relieved as fleet commander by Admiral Richardson on January 6, 1940, and was returned to his permanent rank of rear admiral.
To finish out his career, Bloch was given a typical last assignment as commandant of the Fourteenth Naval District and was based at Pearl Harbor. His responsibility for the defense of the Hawaiian Islands was complicated when the United States Fleet was transferred from California to Pearl Harbor in the spring of 1940 to act as a deterrent to Japan. Admiral Husband E. Kimmel assumed command of the fleet early in 1941 and constantly interfered when Bloch tried to strengthen Hawaii's defenses. Bloch was present when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, but he was one of the few senior officers not criticized during subsequent investigations of the disaster. However, he then ran into trouble with his superiors for trying to tell the new Pacific commander, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, how to direct operations against the Japanese. In April 1942, Bloch was recalled to Washington, where he served on the navy's General Board until he retired on August 1 with the rank of full admiral. He spent the remainder of World War II as chairman of the navy's board for giving production awards to wartime industries. He died in Washington.
Quotes from others about the person
"Bloch had no peer in the handling of committees of Congress, and it was generally believed in the Navy that, no matter where Bloch was assigned, he and his command would do a superior job. " - Admiral J. O. Richardson
On March 3, 1903, Claude Bloch married Augusta Kent; they had one child.
