Background
Cogswell was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the son of Rear Admiral James Kelsey Cogswell.
Cogswell was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the son of Rear Admiral James Kelsey Cogswell.
He was appointed to the United States Naval Academy in 1903, and graduated in 1908.
"The Navy Cross is awarded to Lieutenant Commander Francis Cogswell, United States. Navy, for distinguished service in the line of his profession as commanding officer of the United States.S. Fanning and the United States.S. McDougal, engaged in the important, exacting and hazardous duty of patrolling the waters infested with enemy submarines and mines, in escorting and protecting vitally important convoys of troops and supplies through these waters, and in offensive and defensive action, vigorously and unremittingly prosecuted against all forms of enemy naval activity."
In 1935, he commanded the United States Ship Oglala, the flagship of a flotilla of minesweepers assisting the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in charting the Aleutian Islands. Cogswell was Naval attaché in Paris, France in the late 1930s. Captain Cogswell died at Puget Sound Naval Hospital, Bremerton, Washington on 22 September 1939.
The (Doctor of Divinity-651) was a Fletcher-class destroyer in the United States Navy, serving in World World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.