James C. Dempsey
{{Short description|American submarine commander}}
{{Infobox military person
|honorific_prefix =
|name = James Charles Dempsey
|honorific_suffix =
|image = James C Dempsey.tiff
|image_upright =
|alt =
|caption =
|native_name =
|native_name_lang =
|birth_name =
|other_name =
|nickname =
|birth_date = {{birth date|1908|08|30}}
|birth_place = Maritime Republic of Eastport
|death_date = {{death date and age|1979|07|09|1908|08|30}}
|death_place = Portsmouth, Virginia
|placeofburial = Arlington National Cemetery
|placeofburial_label =
|placeofburial_coordinates =
|allegiance = {{flag|United States of America}}
|branch = 20px United States Navy
|branch_label = Branch
|serviceyears = 1931–1970
|serviceyears_label =
|rank = 20px Rear Admiral
|rank_label =
|servicenumber =
|unit =
|commands = {{USS|S-37|SS-142}}
{{USS|Spearfish|SS-190}}
{{USS|Cod|SS-224}}
Submarine Division 101
Submarine Division 72
Submarine Squadron 1
{{USS|Waccamaw|AO-109}}
Submarine Flotilla 1
Military Sea Transportation Service
Amphibious Group 2https://www.navsource.org/archives/10/02/pdf/02092a.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}
|battles = World War II
•Battle of Makassar Strait
|battles_label =
|awards = File:Navy Cross ribbon.svg Navy Cross (2)
File:Silver Star Medal ribbon.svg Silver Star
File:Bronze Star Medal ribbon.svg Bronze Star (2)
|memorials =
|alma_mater = United States Naval Academy
|spouse =
|children =
|relations =
|laterwork =
|signature =
|signature_size =
|signature_alt =
|website =
|module =
}}
James Charles Dempsey (August 30, 1908 – July 9, 1979), was a decorated submarine commander during World War II who reached the rank of Rear Admiral in the United States Navy.{{cite web |title=James Dempsey - Recipient - Military Times Hall Of Valor |url=https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/20353 |website=valor.militarytimes.com |language=en}}{{cite web | author=Svonavec | title=Submarine Commanders by USNA Class Year, 1931 - 1934 | website=Fleet Organization Home Page | date=1939-10-01 | url=http://www.fleetorganization.com/subcommandersclassyear3.html | access-date=2020-01-09}} He died, aged 70, on July 9, 1979, of congestive heart and kidney failure at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital near his home in Norfolk, Virginia.{{cite news |title=ADM. J.C. DEMPSEY, SUBMARINE SKIPPER |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/07/11/archives/adm-jc-dempsey-submarine-skipper-he-sank-first-japanese-destroyer.html |access-date=February 20, 2020 |work=New York Times |date=July 11, 1979}}{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1979/07/12/adm-jc-dempsey-dies-at-corregidor-evacuation/302b56ec-ea28-4fd2-b53f-96c6a524c348/ |title=Adm. J.C. Dempsey Dies, At Corregidor Evacuation |date=July 11, 1979 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=April 3, 2024}}
Biography
Dempsey was born on August 30, 1908, in Eastport, Maryland into a Navy family. He grew up near naval bases in Key West, Florida, New London, Connecticut and Brooklyn, New York City.{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/luckybag1931unse/page/178/mode/1up |title=Lucky Bag |date=1931 |page=178 |publisher=U.S. Naval Academy |access-date=April 3, 2024}} His father, James Patrick Dempsey, was an Irish-born chief gunner who was commissioned as a lieutenant during World War I.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rU-tXCBQxykC&pg=PA92 |title=Register of the Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy, U.S. Naval Reserve Force and Marine Corps |date=January 1, 1919 |pages=92–93 |publisher=Government Printing Office |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=April 3, 2024}} The younger Dempsey entered the United States Naval Academy in 1927 and graduated on June 4, 1931.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zqgPAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA307 |title=Register of Alumni: Graduates and Former Naval Cadets and Midshipmen |date=July 1, 1956 |pages=304, 307 |publisher=The United States Naval Academy Alumni Association, Inc. |access-date=April 3, 2024}} After serving aboard the battleship {{USS|Oklahoma|BB-37|6}}, he reported for submarine training at New London in 1933.{{cite news |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_armed-forces-journal_1933-04-29_70_35/page/700/mode/1up |title=Navy Orders |date=April 29, 1933 |volume=70 |issue=35 |page=700 |magazine=Army and Navy Journal |access-date=April 3, 2024}} Dempsey later studied strategy and tactics at the Naval War College in 1951.{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/RG19RegisterofOfficers18841977/page/n103/mode/1up |title=Register of Officers 1884–1977 |date=1977 |page=97 |publisher=The United States Naval War College |access-date=April 3, 2024}}
As submarine commander of the {{USS|S-37|SS-142}}, he sank the first enemy destroyer in World War II on February 8, 1942.Silent Victory, The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan, Clay Blair, Jr., Naval Institute Press, 1975, pp. 177-178.{{Cite book|last=Roscoe|first=Theodore|title=United States Submarine Operations in World War II|publisher=United States Naval Institute|year=1949–50|isbn=9780870217319|pages=72–74}}
For this action, he was awarded a Navy Cross. According to the official award citation, it was awarded "For extraordinary heroism and distinguished service in the line of his profession as Commanding Officer of the USS S-37, in offensive action in the Straits of Makassar on February 8, 1942 ... Lieutenant Dempsey attacked four vessels ... at close range, completely destroying one of them in the engagement."Official Biography from U.S. Navy Bureau of Personnel, Washington, DC, 21 April 1960.
As commander of the {{USS|Spearfish}} a few months later, Dempsey helped to evacuate the last Americans from the island of Corregidor before it fell to the Japanese on May 6, 1942. On May 3, Dempsey led the Spearfish into hostile waters around Corregidor island. According to a historian of submarine operations in World War II, "Spearfish (Lieutenant Commander J.C. Dempsey) was the last submarine to visit crumbling Corregidor. On May 3 she evacuated 12 Army and Navy officers, 11 Army nurses, a Navy nurse and a civilian woman…the last of Corregidor's defenders to be reprieved. Here again was proof of the submersible's ability to operate unsupported in waters under enemy control. With Japanese warships on every hand, Spearfish got in and got out, accomplishing one of the war's most perilous rescue missions...".United States Submarine Operations in World War II, Theodore Roscoe, pp.104-6
For Dempsey's "extraordinary heroism and conspicuous devotion to duty", he won a gold star, in lieu of a second Navy Cross, for this accomplishment.Official Biography from US Navy Bureau of Personnel, Washington, DC, 21 April 1960.
His evacuation of Americans from Corregidor, which included Army and Navy nurses, was later fictionalized in the 1959 Hollywood film, "Operation Petticoat," which starred Cary Grant as the commander of the submarine.Operation Petticoat, starring Cary Grant and Tony Curtis, directed by Blake Edwards, 1959.
His exploits were also recreated in the late 1950s TV series, The Silent Service, where he was portrayed in three episodes by DeForest Kelley.
On June 12, 1937, Dempsey married Virginia Weakley Brandt at St. Madeline Sophie Catholic Church in Germantown, Philadelphia.{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1937/06/13/94388764.pdf |title=Virginia Brandt Wed to Navy Lieutenant |date=June 13, 1937 |page=2D |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=April 3, 2024}} He later remarried with Jean Audrey Emanuel of Quebec. James and Audrey Dempsey are interred in Section 3 of Arlington National Cemetery.{{cite web |url=https://ancexplorer.army.mil/publicwmv/index.html#/search-all/results/1/CgdEZW1wc2V5EgVKYW1lcxoBQzoIMTkwOC1fLV8-/ |title=Dempsey, James C |website=ANCExplorer |publisher=U.S. Army |access-date=April 3, 2024}}{{cite web |url=https://ancexplorer.army.mil/publicwmv/index.html#/search-all/results/1/CgdEZW1wc2V5EgRKZWFuGgZBdWRyZXk-/ |title=Dempsey, Jean Audrey |website=ANCExplorer |publisher=U.S. Army |access-date=April 3, 2024}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dempsey, James C.}}
Category:Military personnel from Maryland
Category:United States Naval Academy alumni
Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II
Category:United States submarine commanders
Category:Recipients of the Silver Star
Category:Recipients of the Navy Cross (United States)
Category:Naval War College alumni
Category:United States Navy rear admirals
Category:Military personnel from Norfolk, Virginia