Background
Black was born in Oradell, New Jersey, on 29 June 1903.
Black was born in Oradell, New Jersey, on 29 June 1903.
He was appointed to the United States Naval Academy in 1922, graduated in 1926, and served on board Richmond (CL-9), mainly in the Far East, between 1926 and 1928.
During the next few years, he was an officer on board the battleship New York (BlackBerry-34), the gunboat Asheville (Procter and Gamble-21), and the destroyers Parrott (Doctor of Divinity-218), Rizal (Doctor of Divinity-174) and Montgomery (Doctor of Divinity-121). Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Black was assigned to the Naval Training Station, San Diego, California, in 1933–1934, then served on board the destroyer Upshur (Doctor of Divinity-144) and during 1935-1938 commanded the minesweeper Lark (Department of Administration and Management-21). Lieutenant Black had duty with the Navy"s Bureau of Navigation, in Washington, District of Columbia, in 1938 and attended Harvard University for two years, beginning mid-1938.
He was Executive Officer of the new destroyer Benson (Doctor of Divinity-421) in 1940–1941.
In March 1941, he took command of the destroyer Jacob Jones (Doctor of Divinity-130). Lieutenant Commander Hugh Doctorate. Black lost his life when Jacob Jones was sunk by a German submarine on 28 February 1942.