EDWIN P. MARTIN, LCDR, USN
Edwin Martin '29
Lucky Bag
From the 1929 Lucky Bag:
Loss
Edwin was lost when USS Ingraham (DD 444) was sunk on August 22, 1942 by a collision with an oil tanker while on convoy duty off the coast of Nova Scotia. Ingraham sank almost immediately, and depth charges on her stern detonated as she went down. Only eleven men survived.
He was the only Lieutenant Commander aboard; he was likely the ship's executive officer.
Edwin wife was listed as next of kin. He has a memory marker in Kentucky.
Note
Despite multiple sites that list him as a Commander, believe Memorial Hall is correct with Lieutenant Commander. Both the Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps of 1943 and Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps of 1944 — which gives his date of death — list him as LCDR.
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 1929
Ensign, USS Texas
Others at this command:
Others at or embarked at this command:
October 1929
Ensign, USS Texas
Others at this command:
Others at or embarked at this command:
January 1930
Ensign, USS Texas
Others at this command:
Others at or embarked at this command:
April 1930
Ensign, USS Pensacola
Others at this command:
April 1931
Ensign, under instruction, Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, Rhode Island
Others at this command:
January 1932
Ensign, USS Pensacola
April 1932
Ensign, USS Pensacola
October 1934
Lieutenant (j.g.), under instruction, Finance and Supply School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
January 1935
Lieutenant (j.g.), under instruction, Finance and Supply School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
April 1935
Lieutenant (j.g.), under instruction, Finance and Supply School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
October 1935
Lieutenant (j.g.), Naval Clothing Depot, Brooklyn, New York
January 1936
Lieutenant (j.g.), Naval Clothing Depot, Brooklyn, New York
April 1936
Lieutenant (j.g.), Naval Clothing Depot, Brooklyn, New York
January 1937
Lieutenant (j.g.), USS Wyoming
Others at this command:
April 1937
Lieutenant (j.g.), USS Mindanao
September 1937
Lieutenant (j.g.), USS Guam
January 1938
Lieutenant, USS Guam
July 1938
Lieutenant, USS Canopus
January 1939
Lieutenant, USS Canopus
October 1939
Lieutenant, Naval Academy
Others at this command:
LCDR Raymond Hansen '22
LT Hilan Ebert '26
LT Thomas Ashworth, Jr. '31
LT Lion Miles '31
LT Seymour Owens '31
Others at or embarked at this command:
June 1940
Lieutenant, Naval Academy
Others at this command:
LCDR John French '22
LTjg Albert Gates, Jr. '32
LTjg John Fairbanks, Jr. '32
LTjg Arthur Vorpahl '32
LT Thomas Williamson '32
Others at or embarked at this command:
November 1940
Lieutenant, Naval Academy
Others at this command:
Others at or embarked at this command:
April 1941
Lieutenant, Naval Academy
Others at this command:
Others at or embarked at this command:
Class of 1929
Edwin is one of 29 members of the Class of 1929 on Virtual Memorial Hall.
