JOHN J. CRANE, CDR, USN
John Crane '26
Lucky Bag
From the 1926 Lucky Bag:
John Jarvis Crane
Toledo, Ohio
"Jig Jig" "Ichabod"
"WHO is that big handsome boy over there?" This question is the invariable query of one's drag when she first sees him. Does he give them a second look or thought? No! He remains aloof and disdainful. But he has a very inquisitive nature when it comes to the intricacies of Art. He asked a dancer at the Follies-Bergere where she learned that dance and he has been trying to do it ever since.
Besides this weakness he has a craving for extra instruction from the Executive Department. There was one month though, when he caused much sorrow in the Executive Department: he did not get a single demerit. It was such a wondrous feat that the home paper immediately elevated him to fame. Extra!! "Toledo Boy Stands One in Class." Alas little did they know that four hundred others stood the same.
It is very seldom that the Ac Departments caused him much worry. Not so much because he labored diligently but because he was naturally gifted. If you ask him why he is so gifted he will reply that he is from Toledo. And he will laugh and laugh because he knows all along that that is not the reason.
Basketball Squad (3, 2); Class Basketball (2, 1), Numerals (2); Lacrosse Squad (4, 3), Navy Numerals (4, 3).
John Jarvis Crane
Toledo, Ohio
"Jig Jig" "Ichabod"
"WHO is that big handsome boy over there?" This question is the invariable query of one's drag when she first sees him. Does he give them a second look or thought? No! He remains aloof and disdainful. But he has a very inquisitive nature when it comes to the intricacies of Art. He asked a dancer at the Follies-Bergere where she learned that dance and he has been trying to do it ever since.
Besides this weakness he has a craving for extra instruction from the Executive Department. There was one month though, when he caused much sorrow in the Executive Department: he did not get a single demerit. It was such a wondrous feat that the home paper immediately elevated him to fame. Extra!! "Toledo Boy Stands One in Class." Alas little did they know that four hundred others stood the same.
It is very seldom that the Ac Departments caused him much worry. Not so much because he labored diligently but because he was naturally gifted. If you ask him why he is so gifted he will reply that he is from Toledo. And he will laugh and laugh because he knows all along that that is not the reason.
Basketball Squad (3, 2); Class Basketball (2, 1), Numerals (2); Lacrosse Squad (4, 3), Navy Numerals (4, 3).
Loss
John was lost on January 21, 1943, when the aircraft he was aboard crashed near Ukiah, California while enroute from Pearl Harbor to San Francisco. The flying boat, a Pan Am Clipper, was being operated by Pan Am employees but was a contracted Navy flight, and all ten passengers were Navy officers.
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
John graduated from Waite high school in 1922. Senior Ring Committee, Chairman; Forum Literary Society, Secretary ’22; Retina Board, Comics ’21 (Isn’t John Crane a “comic(al)” editor?); Organizations ’22; Hi Y Club. How Various People Will Spend their Summer: Cully Berndt will hire J. Crane to take him back and forth from Langdon Street to Stickney Avenue in his Ford. Class Prophecy: Yes I know John Crane was the new superintendent of Toledo schools. He won much favor by eliminating tests from the school curriculum.
John was the first commanding officer of the submarine Tuna when the boat was commissioned at Mare Island Navy Yard.
Due to his health, John quit active submarine duty and became an aide to Admiral Robert English.
He married Imogene St. Clair on September 2, 1926, in Toledo. In 1940, she was a publication editor, and their daughter Joan was 16 years old.
On October 3, 1942, John flew on the China Clipper from Honolulu to California.
His father was Dan, a gardener/greenhouse farmer, mother Florence, and brother Dan, Jr.
He is buried in the Naval Academy Cemetery, near his young son, John Jr., who died in 1934. He was also survived by his wife, who in 1951 was the sponsor of USS Bass (SSK 2).
Photographs
From his 1920 high school yearbook
From his 1921 high school yearbook
From his 1922 high school yearbook
Career
From the now-broken link http://www.fleetorganization.com/subcommandersclassyear2.html:
- Duty Bureau of Engineering/Bureau of Ships 1 Jan 1939 - 1 Jul 1940
- Duty cfo Tuna 1 Nov 1940
- Captain USS Tuna (SS-203) 2 Jan 1941 - 7 Dec 1941
- Staff Submarine Squadron Eight Mar 1942
- Engineering & Maintenance Officer COMSUBPAC Aug 1942 - Jan 1943
- Lieutenant 30 Jun 1936
- Lieutenant Commander 1 Jul 1940
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.
October 1926
January 1927
April 1927
October 1927
January 1928
April 1928
July 1928
October 1928
January 1929
April 1929
July 1929
LT Thomas Fisher '18 (Light Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LT Paul Thompson '19 (Aircraft Squadrons, Battle Fleet)
LTjg Creighton Lankford '25 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 1B)
October 1929
LT Thomas Fisher '18 (Light Bombing Plane Squadron (VB) 2B)
LTjg Creighton Lankford '25 (Fighting Plane Squadron (VF) 1B)
January 1930
April 1930
October 1930
January 1931
April 1931
July 1931
October 1931
January 1932
April 1932
October 1932
January 1933
April 1933
LCDR Charles Cecil '16
LT Robert Smith '20
LT Paul Register '21
LT Francis Bridget '21
LT George Brooke '21
LT William Hobby, Jr. '23
LTjg Neville McDowell '24
LTjg Hubert Hayter '24
July 1933
LCDR Lyman Swenson '16
LCDR Charles Cecil '16
LT Robert Smith '20
LT Paul Register '21
LT George Brooke '21
LT Howard Healy '22
1LT Charles Kail '23
LT Hallsted Hopping '24
LTjg Lawrence McPeake '24
LTjg James Smith, Jr. '25
October 1933
LCDR Lyman Swenson '16
LCDR Charles Cecil '16
LT Robert Smith '20
LT Paul Register '21
LT George Brooke '21
LT Howard Healy '22
1LT Charles Kail '23
LT Hallsted Hopping '24
LTjg Lawrence McPeake '24
LTjg William Graham, Jr. '25
LTjg Andrew Harris '25
April 1934
LCDR Lyman Swenson '16
LCDR Charles Cecil '16
LT Robert Smith '20
LT Paul Register '21
LT William Gray '21
LT George Brooke '21
LT Howard Healy '22
1LT Charles Kail '23
LT Hallsted Hopping '24
LT Lawrence McPeake '24
LTjg William Graham, Jr. '25
July 1934
LCDR Albert Rooks '14
LCDR Charles Cecil '16
LT Paul Register '21
LT William Gray '21
LT George Brooke '21
LT Howard Healy '22
LT Edward Metcalfe '22
LT Eugene Elmore '22
1LT Charles Kail '23
LTjg William Graham, Jr. '25
October 1934
LCDR Albert Rooks '14
LCDR Charles Cecil '16
LT Paul Register '21
LT William Gray '21
LT George Brooke '21
LT John French '22
LT Howard Healy '22
LT Edward Metcalfe '22
LT Eugene Elmore '22
January 1935
LCDR Albert Rooks '14
LCDR Charles Cecil '16
LT Paul Register '21
LT William Gray '21
LT George Brooke '21
LT John French '22
LT Howard Healy '22
LT Edward Metcalfe '22
LT Eugene Elmore '22
April 1935
LCDR Albert Rooks '14
LCDR Charles Cecil '16
LT Paul Register '21
LT William Gray '21
LT George Brooke '21
LT John French '22
LT Howard Healy '22
LT Edward Metcalfe '22
LT Eugene Elmore '22
LTjg Heywood Edwards '26
April 1937
September 1937
July 1938
January 1939
October 1939
June 1940
November 1940
April 1941
Related Articles
Robert English '11, Donald Godwin '11, Robert Smith '20, Francis Black '26, William Myers '26, John Coll '27, and George Stone '31 were also lost in the crash of Pan Am Flight 1104. Eight of the ten passengers were Naval Academy graduates.
The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.
