Background
Robert Edward Coontz was born on June 11, 1864 in Hannibal, Missouri, United States. He was the son of Benton and Mary (Brewington) Coontz and a descendant of pioneer Missouri settlers from Pennsylvania and Maryland.
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Robert Edward Coontz was born on June 11, 1864 in Hannibal, Missouri, United States. He was the son of Benton and Mary (Brewington) Coontz and a descendant of pioneer Missouri settlers from Pennsylvania and Maryland.
As a boy he studied at Ingleside and Hannibal colleges. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1885.
Coontz worked as clerk in his father's printing company and as deputy tax-collector.
He served in the South Pacific, North Atlantic, and then for nearly six years in the gunboat Pinta in Alaskan waters, where he became a qualified pilot.
During the Spanish War he was a lieutenant in the Charleston, which took possession of Guam, June 20, 1898, participated in the final bombardment of Manila, and was engaged at Iloilo and elsewhere in the Philippine insurrection.
Coontz was executive of the Massachusetts schoolship Enterprise, 1899-1901, senior watch officer in the Philadelphia at Panama during disturbances in 1902, and executive of the Nebraska in the World Cruise of 1908-09. He commanded the midshipmen's practice cruise in 1911 and was entertained by the Kaiser at Kiel.
Promoted to captain, July 1912, he was governor of Guam, 1912-13, and as commander of the battleship Georgia served in Mexican waters during the Vera Cruz incident. Under his command the Georgia came up from last to first place in gunnery.
From 1915 to 1918 he commanded the Puget Sound navy yard and 13th Naval District during immensely expanded wartime activities, which included construction of merchant vessels and subchasers, repair of American and British warcraft, and reconditioning of German freighters. His success, especially in handling labor problems, was attested by the gift of a handsome sword from his district at the close of his duty.
Following his promotion to rear admiral (1917), his expected sea command was delayed after the armistice by brief service as acting chief of operations during Admiral Benson's absence abroad. In command of the 7th Division, Atlantic Fleet, flagship Wyoming, he accompanied the transatlantic flight of naval planes in July 1919 but shortly afterward shifted to the Nevada as second in command of the Pacific Fleet under Admiral Rodman. In September 1919 Secretary Daniels offered him the post of chief of naval operations. In his selection for this highest shore station, his Democratic party affiliations were doubtless a factor, but secondary to his proved qualifications as an officer of sound judgment and skill in administration. In this duty, October 1919-July 1923, he was occupied with postwar reduction of forces and needless shore stations and served on a committee with Captain Pratt and Assistant Secretary Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. , to formulate a reduction program for the Washington Naval Conference.
Thereafter he was commander-in-chief of the United States Fleet in the flagship Seattle from August 1923 to October 1925, the chief event of his command being the cruise of forty-five ships and 43, 000 men to Australia and New Zealand in the summer of 1925. This was followed by command of the 5th Naval District with headquarters at Norfolk until his retirement on June 11, 1928, after forty-seven years' service, over twenty-three of them at sea.
He died of a heart attack at the Puget Sound Naval Hospital at Bremerton, Washington and was buried at Hannibal, Missouri.
In his autobiography he lists as his achievements the strengthening of the office he occupied, his successful fight to keep the enlisted personnel up to 86, 000, the formation of a united fleet, the promotion of foreign cruises, and the adoption and promulgation of a definite naval policy, approved by the Secretary of the Navy and the President. He was commander of the Military Order of Foreign Wars, 1920-23, and of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, 1923-30. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.
Coontz was of medium height, stocky, and erect of carriage.
He was married on October 31, 1890, to Augusta Cohen of Sitka, Alaska, and had three children, Benton who died in childhood, Kenneth who died as a naval lieutenant in 1926, and Bertha.
