Assistant secretary of the Navy

The personal flag used by Assistant Secretaries of the Navy as well as the General Counsel of the Navy.

Assistant Secretary of the Navy (ASN) is the title given to certain civilian senior officials in the United States Department of the Navy.

From 1861 to 1954, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy was the second-highest civilian office in the Department of the Navy (reporting to the United States Secretary of the Navy). That role has since been supplanted by the office of Under Secretary of the Navy and the office of Assistant Secretary of the Navy has been abolished. There have, however, been a number of offices bearing the phrase "Assistant Secretary of the Navy" in their title (see below for details).

At present, there are four Assistant Secretaries of the Navy, each of whom reports to and assists the Secretary of the Navy and the Under Secretary of the Navy:

• Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition)
• Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Manpower and Reserve Affairs)
• Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Financial Management and Comptroller)
• Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Energy, Installations and Environment)
• The General Counsel of the Navy is equivalent in rank to the four Assistant Secretaries.

History

The Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy was established in 1861, to provide a senior deputy to the Secretary. The Assistant Secretary was responsible for the Navy's civilian personnel, as well as for administration of shore facilities (such as naval bases and shipyards). Gustavus Fox was the first to hold the post, serving throughout the Civil War. The office was disestablished in 1869, during Reconstruction, but was reestablished by Congress on July 11, 1890. James R. Soley was the first to be appointed to the newly reestablished position.

The Assistant Secretary was the Navy's number-two civilian until 1940, when Congress established the position of Under Secretary of the Navy, who was given oversight of the Assistant Secretary's activities. James V. Forrestal, later Secretary of Defense, was the first to serve as Under Secretary; he held the post until 1944, when he became Secretary of the Navy.

During the 20th century, the responsibilities of the Assistant Secretary were divided among several officials. During the 1920s, for example, to reflect the increasing importance of naval aviation, Congress established the position of Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Air.

The office of Assistant Secretary of the Navy was disestablished in 1954.

Notable officeholders

• U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1897 to 1898, during the William McKinley administration. His short tenure was due to resigning to organize and lead into combat the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry during the Spanish-American War. It is notable for his taking the initiative to order Admiral George Dewey to sail to Manila where he sank the Spanish Pacific Fleet at the very outset of the war.
• U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1913 until 1920, and helped to implement Navy policies during World War I.
• According to author Edward J. Renehan, Jr., no fewer than five members of the extended Roosevelt clan served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy: Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt Jr. who served from 1921 through 1924 under Harding and Coolidge, Theodore Douglas Robinson (the son of Corinne Roosevelt) who served from 1924 through 1929 under Coolidge, and finally Henry Latrobe Roosevelt, a descendant of Robert Fulton's old friend "Steamboat Nicholas" Roosevelt, who served from 1933 through 1936 under FDR.
• Ralph Austin Bard was Assistant Secretary (1941–1944) and then Under Secretary (1944–1945) during World War II.

Assistant Secretaries of the Navy, 1861–1954

Picture	Name	Assumed office	Left office	President appointed by	Secretary served under
	Gustavus Fox	August 1, 1861	November 26, 1866	Abraham Lincoln	Gideon Welles
	William Faxon	June 1, 1866	March 3, 1869	Andrew Johnson	Gideon Welles, Adolph Edward Borie, George Maxwell Robeson, Richard Wigginton Thompson, Nathan Goff, Jr., William Henry Hunt, William Eaton Chandler, William Collins Whitney
	James R. Soley	July 18, 1890	March 19, 1893	Benjamin Harrison	Benjamin Franklin Tracy
	William McAdoo	March 20, 1893	April 18, 1897	Grover Cleveland	Hilary Abner Herbert
	Theodore Roosevelt	April 19, 1897	May 10, 1898	William McKinley	John Davis Long
	Charles Herbert Allen	May 11, 1898	April 21, 1900
	Frank W. Hackett	April 24, 1900	December 16, 1901
	Charles Hial Darling	December 17, 1901	October 30, 1905	Theodore Roosevelt	John Davis Long, William Henry Moody, Paul Morton, Charles Joseph Bonaparte
	Truman Handy Newberry	November 1, 1905	November 30, 1908		Charles Joseph Bonaparte, Victor Howard Metcalf
	Herbert L. Satterlee	December 3, 1908	March 5, 1909		Truman Handy Newberry
	Beekman Winthrop	March 6, 1909	March 16, 1913	William Howard Taft	George von Lengerke Meyer
	Franklin D. Roosevelt	March 17, 1913	August 26, 1920	Woodrow Wilson	Josephus Daniels
	Gordon Woodbury	August 27, 1920	March 9, 1921
	Theodore Roosevelt Jr.	March 10, 1921	September 30, 1924	Warren Harding	Edwin Denby
	Theodore Douglas Robinson	November 11, 1924	March 4, 1929	Calvin Coolidge	Curtis Dwight Wilbur
	Ernest L. Jahncke	April 1, 1929	March 17, 1933	Herbert Hoover	Charles Francis Adams III
	Henry L. Roosevelt	March 17, 1933	February 22, 1936	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Claude Augustus Swanson
	Charles Edison	January 18, 1937	January 1, 1940
	Lewis Compton	February 9, 1940	January 10, 1941		Charles Edison
	Ralph Austin Bard	February 24, 1941	June 24, 1944		William Franklin Knox
	H. Struve Hensel	January 30, 1945	February 28, 1946	Franklin D. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman	James Vincent Forrestal
	W. John Kenney	March 1, 1946	September 19, 1947	Harry S. Truman
	Mark E. Andrews	January 21, 1948	February 15, 1949		John L. Sullivan
	John T. Koehler	February 18, 1949	October 3, 1951		Francis P. Matthews
	Herbert R. Askins	October 3, 1951	January 20, 1953		Dan A. Kimball
	Raymond H. Fogler	June 22, 1953	October 4, 1954	Dwight D. Eisenhower	Robert B. Anderson, Charles S. Thomas
Source:

Defunct offices bearing the title of "Assistant Secretary of the Navy"

Office name	Year created	Year abolished
Assistant Secretary of the Navy (AIR)	1926	1959
Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Installations and Logistics)	c. 1960s?	c. 1970s?
Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Material)	c. 1950s?	c. 1950s?
Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research and Development)	1959	1977
Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Engineering and Systems)	1977	1990
Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Shipbuilding and Logistics)		1990

External links

• 80.3.1 Records of the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy General Records of the Department of the Navy, 1798-1947 (Record Group 80) 1804–1958, from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
• Naval Historical Center, Washington, D.C. Source for papers and photos of various Assistant Secretaries of the Navy
• Navy Organization – The Secretariat An organizational chart for the Office of the Secretary of the Navy, Dept. of the Navy