Background
Louis E. Denfeld was born on April 13, 1891, in Westborough, Massachusetts, the son of Louis Denfeld, an attorney, and Etta May Kelley.
Louis E. Denfeld was born on April 13, 1891, in Westborough, Massachusetts, the son of Louis Denfeld, an attorney, and Etta May Kelley.
Denfeld attended high school in Duluth, Minnesota, where he had gone to live with his uncle Robert Denfeld, a retired navy officer. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1912.
Denfeld then had sea duty in battleships Virginia and Arkansas and in Paducah, a gunboat.
In 1916 Denfeld began several years of service in destroyers: in Ammen, which was based at Queenstown, Ireland, during World War I; as executive officer of Lamberton (1918 - 1919); and then as commanding officer of McCall in 1919. He had by this time become a lieutenant and in 1918 received the temporary rank of lieutenant commander; that rank was made permanent in 1922.
Between 1919 and 1921 Denfeld was in Boston as assistant recruiting inspector and then inspector of the navy's New England division. During the remainder of the 1920's Denfeld had additional sea duty in Wadsworth (1921 - 1922), as commanding officer of submarine S-24 (1923 - 1924), and finally as commander of destroyer Brooks (1926 - 1928). He had two periods of service in Washington, District of Columbia: the first in the Ship Movements Division of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (1924 - 1926), and the second as aide to the chief of the Bureau of Navigation (1929 - 1931).
Denfeld advanced steadily, earning promotions to commander in 1933, to captain in 1939, and to rear admiral in 1942. He grew familiar with the higher workings of the navy while serving, from 1931-1933, as aide and flag secretary to Admiral Richard Henry Leigh, who commanded the Battle Force (1931 - 1932) and then the United States Fleet itself (1932 - 1933). Denfeld later served as aide to Chief of Naval Operations William D. Leahy (1937 - 1939). Between these tours he served in the Bureau of Navigation (1933 - 1935) and as commander of Destroyer Division Eleven (1935 - 1937). In 1939 and 1940 he assumed command of Destroyer Division Eighteen.
After duty as commander of Destroyer Squadron One (1940 - 1941), Denfeld reported to London in February 1941 as a special naval observer to consult on antisubmarine warfare and to assess sites for future American bases. In April of that year he became chief of staff to the commander of the Atlantic Fleet Support Force. Denfeld was charged with developing a task force organization to escort the convoys that would be carrying Lend-Lease supplies to Great Britain. His efforts earned him a Legion of Merit.
In 1942 Denfeld began a three-year tour as assistant chief of the Bureau of Navigation, soon renamed the Bureau of Naval Personnel. In 1945 Denfeld took command of Battleship Division Nine, consisting of three of the world's mightiest warships: Wisconsin, New Jersey, and Missouri. His battleships provided antiaircraft gunfire support to a carrier task force during the Okinawan campaign, and also functioned independently of the carriers to bombard targets on shore.
With the end of World War II Denfeld returned to Washington to head the Bureau of Naval Personnel. Advanced in rank to vice-admiral, he had the tasks of supervising the orderly demobilization of the wartime navy and of developing recruitment and personnel policies for the postwar years. In early 1947 he was named commander in chief, Pacific, and promoted to full admiral. In addition to the normal duties of this position, Denfeld also administered on a military basis the Pacific islands formerly under Japanese rule, as per the United Nations agreement on American trusteeship of that area. Later that year he succeeded Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz as chief of naval operations.
Despite his affable nature and years of experience in Washington, Denfeld had a stormy tenure. Much of the discord Denfeld encountered revolved around defining the missions of the army, navy, and newly independent air force in the event of conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, the only likely great-power adversary. The disputes over missions inevitably involved budgetary matters, for military spending was being slashed in this uncertain period after the Second World War. The missions a service received would bear substantially upon its share of the budget. If, for instance, the air force monopolized the mission of strategic nuclear bombing, it would benefit immensely in the ongoing budget warfare.
The austere budget for fiscal year 1949 led Denfeld and Secretary of the Navy John L. Sullivan to halt construction of thirteen other ships in order to build a supercarrier, the United States. The first carrier designed since the end of the Second World War, it would be able to operate the newest jet planes, which in turn could handle atomic bombs. Although a dissenting vote was cast by the air force chief of staff, the supercarrier received the approval of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and of President Truman. Denfeld had not opposed the air force's call for funds for its prime new weapons system, the B-36 bomber.
By 1949 the air force had strengthened its position. During the Berlin airlift it had received forward bases in Great Britain for its bombers, and with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) becoming a reality, it could expect additional European bases. New Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson cancelled construction of the United States and made other cuts in funds allocated to navy and marine aviation. Tensions between the navy and the air force and their respective partisans in Congress and among the press erupted during the summer of 1949 into the highly publicized "revolt of the admirals, " which took place in prolonged hearings on defense policy held before the House Armed Services Committee.
For much of that time, Denfeld was in Europe on NATO affairs. By the time he returned, the dispute had split the defense establishment and the navy itself. For instance, advances in the navy's capabilities in antisubmarine warfare were used by resentful air admirals to buttress their contention that Denfeld was indifferent to their need for better carriers and planes.
In September, Denfeld endorsed a letter by a subordinate claiming that morale within the navy was at its lowest point since 1916. When the letter was leaked to the press, Denfeld claimed that his endorsement did not mean that he concurred with all the opinions expressed in the letter. Pressured by Johnson to keep Denfeld "in line, " the new secretary of the navy, Francis P. Matthews, felt that Denfeld should be relieved of his command for endorsing the letter in the first place.
Matters came to a head when the navy's most respected air admiral, Arthur W. Radford, who was commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet, testified before the committee in October that the B-36 was a "billion-dollar blunder, " and asserted that strategic bombing alone could not win a war. As he prepared to testify, Denfeld was under pressure to back either his superior, Matthews, or subordinates like Radford who had made clear their displeasure with defense policies. Denfeld stood with his service colleagues. However, in the opinion of historian Paolo E. Coletta, he had waited too long to define his position. President Truman then acquiesced in the relief of Denfeld, who was informed on October 28, 1949, that he would be replaced as chief of naval operations.
Rather than accept the position in Europe that the secretary of the navy offered him, Denfeld took accrued leave and retired early in 1950. He then made clear in three articles written for the popular magazine Collier's the extent of his dissatisfaction with the defense policies of Matthews and Johnson. Denfeld, who became a consultant to a major oil company, then refrained from further embroilment in defense issues.
Ironically, Denfeld's final actions as chief of naval operations brought him more respect from his fellow officers than anything else he had accomplished in his tenure. Louis E. Denfeld died on March 28, 1972, in Westborough, Massachusetts, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington.
Louis Emil Denfeld is remembered as an admiral in the United States Navy who served as Chief of Naval Operations from December 15, 1947, to November 1, 1949. He also held several significant surface commands during World War II, and after the war, he served as the dual-hatted commander of United States Pacific Command and Pacific Fleet. Admiral Louis E. Denfeld also received many decorations during his long navy career, including: Submarine Warfare insignia, Distinguished Service Medal (United States), Legion of Merit with two gold award stars and "V" Device (United States), Mexican Service Medal (United States), Haitian Campaign Medal (United States), World War I Victory Medal (United States), Nicaraguan Campaign Medal (1933, United States), American Defense Service Medal (United States), American Campaign Medal (United States), Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal (United States), World War II Victory Medal (United States), Philippine Liberation Medal (Republic of the Philippines).
On June 5, 1915, Louis E. Denfeld married Rachel Metcalf. They had no children.
