CHARLES E. HOVEY, ENS, USN
Charles Hovey '07
Lucky Bag
From the 1907 Lucky Bag:
CHARLES EMERSON HOVEY
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
"Em"
A man who believes that an emulsion can be formed by mixing the world, the flesh and the devil, and from the compound naught but good be drawn. Started life "even as you and I" but finally succeeded as President of the Y. M. C. A. Often, to give his brain a little exercise after sporting among such wild flowers as Exterior Ballistics, Calculus or Prof. Johnson's mechanics, dips into the phenomena of Psychic Research and electrifies many and varied audiences with the wit and wisdom of his "three minute talks." Has a most abnormal thirst for general information, and is at home with any sort of listener or speaker.
President Y. M. C. A.; Santee (3); Buzzard (2); One Stripe (1).
CHARLES EMERSON HOVEY
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
"Em"
A man who believes that an emulsion can be formed by mixing the world, the flesh and the devil, and from the compound naught but good be drawn. Started life "even as you and I" but finally succeeded as President of the Y. M. C. A. Often, to give his brain a little exercise after sporting among such wild flowers as Exterior Ballistics, Calculus or Prof. Johnson's mechanics, dips into the phenomena of Psychic Research and electrifies many and varied audiences with the wit and wisdom of his "three minute talks." Has a most abnormal thirst for general information, and is at home with any sort of listener or speaker.
President Y. M. C. A.; Santee (3); Buzzard (2); One Stripe (1).
Loss
Charles was killed in action on September 24, 1911 while leading a landing force at Lapurap, Basilan, Philippines, during the Moro Rebellion.
Other Information
From Naval History and Heritage Command:
Charles Emerson Hovey was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on 10 January 1885. He was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy in May 1903, graduating in June 1907 with the rank of Midshipman. During the next three years he was assigned to the battleships Ohio and Idaho. Promoted to Ensign in June 1909, and transferred to the Asiatic Fleet in 1910, he served in Philippines waters with the gunboats Mindoro and Pampanga. On 24 September 1911, while leading a landing force at Lapurap, Basilan, Ensign Charles E. Hovey was killed in action with hostile Moros.
Charles is listed on the killed in action panel in Memorial Hall under the heading "PHILIPPINE ISLANDS CAMPAIGN 1911."
He was survived by his mother and two sisters; he is buried in New Hampshire.
Career
From Together We Served:
- 1907-1909, USS Ohio (BB-12)
- 1909-1910, USS Idaho (BB-24)
- 1910-1911, USS Mindoro (1899) gunboat
- 1911-1911, USS Pampanga (PG-39)
He was the original author of the Watch Officer's Manual.
Namesakes
USS Hovey (Destroyer No. 208) was named for Charles; the ship was sponsored by his sister, Louise.
From Wikipedia:
Veterans of Foreign Wars post #168 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is named for him as Emerson Hovey. There is some irony in this - the Philippine conflict was not classified as a "foreign war" at the time of his death, since the Philippines was then a U.S. colony. There is a fountain in Portsmouth's waterfront Prescott Park honoring him.
Memorial
Charles' classmates erected a plaque in his honor in Memorial Hall.
The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.
The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.
The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.
Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.
July 1907
January 1909
January 1910
January 1911
Memorial Hall Error
Charles is listed on the killed in action panel in Memorial Hall under the heading "PHILIPPINE ISLANDS CAMPAIGN 1911." There is no ready evidence that this was an actual operation or "campaign" in 1911, however.
The killed in action panel should corrected; one option would be to change the existing "PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION 1899-1901" to "MORO REBELLION 1899-1913" and to include Charles there.
The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.
