JOHN A. HOLLOWELL, JR., CDR, USN

John Hollowell, Jr. '22

Date of birth: August 31, 1899

Date of death: March 1, 1942

Age: 42

Lucky Bag

From the 1922 Lucky Bag:

JOHN AMBROSE HOLLOWELL, JR.

Norfolk, Virginia

"Ambrose," "Hollowhead."

AMBROSE came to us from Tennessee, but at that he's not without ambition. He is a firm believer in, and a living example of, the "Solid South." Constant contact with civilization, however, showed him the great handicap beneath which he was laboring so that he changed his residence to Norfolk,—a move in the right direction, but not far enough. A few more shifts an'—by the way, he's some shifter. Listen! He'll tell you himself: "My gang shifted that last scene in one minute flat. Professionals saw something they rarely read about."

Ambrose is noted for remarkably poor argumentative powers, a sorrowful accent, and not knowing that the Civil War is over. Nevertheless, he is the best of roommates; his heart is big and his opinions are changing. Why, he's even going to drag sometime—maybe.

Gold Masked N; Stage Manager Masqueraders (2, 1).

JOHN AMBROSE HOLLOWELL, JR.

Norfolk, Virginia

"Ambrose," "Hollowhead."

AMBROSE came to us from Tennessee, but at that he's not without ambition. He is a firm believer in, and a living example of, the "Solid South." Constant contact with civilization, however, showed him the great handicap beneath which he was laboring so that he changed his residence to Norfolk,—a move in the right direction, but not far enough. A few more shifts an'—by the way, he's some shifter. Listen! He'll tell you himself: "My gang shifted that last scene in one minute flat. Professionals saw something they rarely read about."

Ambrose is noted for remarkably poor argumentative powers, a sorrowful accent, and not knowing that the Civil War is over. Nevertheless, he is the best of roommates; his heart is big and his opinions are changing. Why, he's even going to drag sometime—maybe.

Gold Masked N; Stage Manager Masqueraders (2, 1).

Loss

John was lost when USS Houston (CA 30) was sunk on March 1, 1942 during the Battle of Sunda Strait. He was the ship's navigator.

His wife was listed as next of kin.

Remembrances

In "Ship of Ghosts", he is quoted responding to a sailor where they were going: "In a fatherly way, he draped his arm around my shoulder and, as though talking to himself, said, 'Son, we're going to hell, we're going to hell.'"

USS V-4 (Argonaut) was built with some new safety features as the results of the sinking of the USS F-4, sunk on March 25; 1915; S-5, sunk September 1, 1920; O-5, sunk October 28, 1923; and S-4, sunk on December 1, 1927 and the extreme difficulty of salvage workers to recover the submarines. Here, Lt jg John A. Hollowell is showing the two External Salvage valves that divers can use to send air to the Forward and After groups of ballast tanks from the subs own high pressure air flasks.

USS V-4 (Argonaut) was built with some new safety features such as these externally mounted salvage valves. Here, Lt jg John A. Hollowell is showing the External Salvage valve for the Officers Quarters Compartment that is located on the fore deck of submarine. Divers can use this to send air to that space using air from the subs own high pressure air flasks or from an external air source. Photo taken June 26, 1928.

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

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.

March 1924

Ensign, course instrn, Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, Rhode Island

Others at this command: ENS Eugene Elmore '22, ENS James Craig '22, ENS Joyce Ralph '23, ENS Louis Drexler, Jr. '23, and ENS William Haynsworth, Jr. '23.

May 1924

Ensign, course instrn, Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, Rhode Island

Lieutenant, commanding officer, USS Pigeon