Randall Jacobs

He was born in 12 December 1895{{cite web | title=Navy Register, 1927 | url=https://www.usmcu.edu/Portals/218/HD/Lineal%20Lists/1927.pdf?ver=2019-03-28-125821-427×tamp=1553863731508 | publisher=USMCU |access-date=2025-05-07|page=17}} at Danville in Pennsylvania.{{cite web | title=USS Utah Commanding Officer: Commander Randall Jacobs | website=USS Utah BB-31/AG-16 | date=1932-04-01 | url=https://www.ussutah1941.org/randall-jacobs.html | access-date=2025-05-06}} He attended the United States Naval Academy graduating in 1907. He was in the same class as several other future Admirals including John H. Hoover, Augustin T. Beauregard, Patrick N. L. Bellinger, Harold M. Bemis, Richard S. Edwards, Robert C. Giffen, Felix X. Gygax, Henry K. Hewitt, Jonas H. Ingram, Claud A. Jones, Ernest D. McWhorter, Albert C. Read, and Robert A. Theobald.{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/luckybag00unit_0|title= Lucky Bag - USNA Class of 1907|publisher=United States Naval Academy|access-date=July 10, 2018}}

In 1927, he was the Commander of the USS Monocacy.

He served as a Commander on USS Black Hawk.{{cite book | last=Ross | first=Ian | title=Such is Life in the Navy - The Story of Rear Admiral Herbert V. Wiley - Airship Commander, Battleship Captain | date=2016-01-20 | isbn=978-1-329-83753-9 | page=206}}

He served as Commander of USS Utah from 1 April 1932 until 3 May 1934.

File:NH 48852 Rear Admiral Randall Jacobs, USN.jpg

In December 19 1941, he was appointed Commander of the Bureau of Navigation. While in charge, Jacobs would play a key role in recruitment for the Navy during the Second World War.{{cite book | last=Goldberg | first=Dan | title=The Golden Thirteen | publisher=Beacon Press | publication-place=New York | date=2020-05-19 | isbn=978-0-8070-2158-3 | page=125}} This included the enlistement of Black men into naval units as a result of discussion with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox and the director of selective service. Jacobs continued in his role in charge of navigation and recruitment as the organization became the Bureau of Naval Personnel in 1942.{{cite web | title=Bureau of Naval Personnel | website=NHHC | date=1978-10-31 | url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/research-guides/lists-of-senior-officers-and-civilian-officials-of-the-us-navy/bureau-of-naval-personnel.html | access-date=2025-05-06}}{{cite book | last=Pitrof | first=Tyler A. | title=Too Far on a Whim | publisher=University of Alabama Press | publication-place=Tuscaloosa | date=2024 | isbn=978-0-8173-6140-2 | page=129}} In charge of naval personnel during the Second World War, Jacobs name was used in numerous instances to address telegrams to inform the family of naval personnel if an individual was killed or missing.{{cite web | last=Puschnigg | first=Tatiana | title=Lucky’s Life | website=Naval Historical Foundation | date=2019-03-12 | url=https://navyhistory.org/2019/03/luckys-life/ | access-date=2025-05-06}}{{cite web | last=Jacobs | first=Randall | title=[Telegram from Randall Jacobs to Eleanor McFadden Young, November 1942] | website=The Portal to Texas History | date=1942 | url=https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1689088/?q=%22%22~1 | access-date=2025-05-06}} This include telegrams to the family of those lost in the sinking of the USS Indianpolis. However in one case, a telegram was sent in Jacob's name but in error to the parents of a radio technician who was believed missing but in fact had not joined the Indianapolis and therefore survived.{{cite book | last=Hulver | first=Richard A. | title=A Grave Misfortune | publisher=United States Department of Defense | publication-place=Washington, DC | date=2018 | isbn=978-1-943604-26-5 | page=180-181}}{{cite web| title=Setting the Record Straight: The Loss of USS Indianapolis and the Question of Clarence Donnor | website=NHHC | date=1945-07-30 | url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/browse-by-topic/disasters-and-phenomena/indianapolis/setting-the-record-straight--the-loss-of-uss-indianapolis-and-th.html | access-date=2025-05-07}} In early 1943, Jacobs utilised the reorganized Bureau of Naval Personnel to create a new, standardized, program of training and college education for those in the Navy, including creation of definitive US training manuals for each aspect of naval warfare across 1943 and 1944.{{cite book | last=Pitrof | first=Tyler A. | title=Too Far on a Whim | publisher=University of Alabama Press | publication-place=Tuscaloosa | date=2024 | isbn=978-0-8173-6140-2 | page=129}}

In April 1943, Jacobs proposed to Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox that the US Navy consider an experimental program to enlist Black women into enlisted ranks, however Jacob's programme was not considered until James Forrestal became Secretary in 1944.{{cite book | last=Nalty | first=Bernard C. | title=Strength for the Fight | publisher=Simon and Schuster | date=1989 | isbn=978-0-02-922411-3 | page=191}}

In 1944, Jacobs testified before the Committee on Naval Affairs of the House of Representatives, recommending that the Six-star rank of Admiral of the Navy be made the Naval equivalent to General of the Armies.{{Cite web|date=20 July 1944|title=Hearings Before the Committee on Naval Affairs of the House of Representatives on Sundry Legislation Affecting the Naval Establishment, 1943–1944, Seventy-eighth Congress, First–Second Session. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1944. pp. 1339, 2357–2362.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7EggKi9ZfMYC&pg=PA2357|access-date=1 November 2020|website=Google Books}}

In 1945, Jacobs when he was succeeded at the Bureau of Naval Personnel by Rear-Admiral Louis E. Denfeld.

He died 19 June 1967 at Bethesda, Maryland. He is buried Section 30 at Arlington National Cemetery.

He was a recipient of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.

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Category:1895 births

Category:1967 deaths

Category:United States Navy vice admirals

Category:United States Navy World War II admirals

Category:Military personnel from Pennsylvania