ROGERS ELLIOTT, CDR, USN

From USNA Virtual Memorial Hall
Rogers Elliott '22

Date of birth: February 25, 1902

Date of death: October 7, 1943

Age: 41

Lucky Bag

From the 1922 Lucky Bag:

1922 Elliott LB.jpg

ROGERS ELLIOTT

Mayville, New York

"Rog," "Big Boy."

"OH MY, who is that tall blonde Middy over there, I'd like to meet him"—that's what all the femmes say about our dimpled, bashful Mellen's food product. Although "Rog" is a snake of the lowest type, he will tell you that the Sea-Pop's world revolves around a little manor tucked away in the Palisades of the Hudson.

While "Rog" and work have remained totally unacquainted for three cruises, the Pride of Mayville is a he-man. Plebe and Youngster Year found him on the crew squad, and Second Class Year he was left guard on "Red" Reinicke's bolsheviki eleven which captured the interclass championship.

The only handicap Rogers has is the fact that he's "up State." But the big boy is savvy and has never been known to crack a book (excepting "Red Book," "Shadowland," etc.). Non-regness and demos have kept our hero from stars and stripes, but my! my! just cast a glance at the skipper of the First Batt. color guard.

"Oh boy! she's a wonder!"

"Say, brother, out at second with that stuff!"

Crew Squad (4, 3); Class Football Numerals (2).

1922 Elliott LB.jpg

ROGERS ELLIOTT

Mayville, New York

"Rog," "Big Boy."

"OH MY, who is that tall blonde Middy over there, I'd like to meet him"—that's what all the femmes say about our dimpled, bashful Mellen's food product. Although "Rog" is a snake of the lowest type, he will tell you that the Sea-Pop's world revolves around a little manor tucked away in the Palisades of the Hudson.

While "Rog" and work have remained totally unacquainted for three cruises, the Pride of Mayville is a he-man. Plebe and Youngster Year found him on the crew squad, and Second Class Year he was left guard on "Red" Reinicke's bolsheviki eleven which captured the interclass championship.

The only handicap Rogers has is the fact that he's "up State." But the big boy is savvy and has never been known to crack a book (excepting "Red Book," "Shadowland," etc.). Non-regness and demos have kept our hero from stars and stripes, but my! my! just cast a glance at the skipper of the First Batt. color guard.

"Oh boy! she's a wonder!"

"Say, brother, out at second with that stuff!"

Crew Squad (4, 3); Class Football Numerals (2).

Loss

Rogers was lost on October 7, 1943 when USS Concord (CL 10) suffered a gasoline explosion, killing him and 22 other officers and men. He was the ship's executive officer.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

When Rogers joined the Navy in spring 1917, he received a patriotic send-off from the students of Mayville High School with martial music and American flags flying. He was the first resident of Mayville to enter the service since war was declared.

In September, 1919, a dance party was held in his honor at the Odd Fellows hall in Mayville.

Rogers married Marion Blewer in Manhattan on November, 28, 1924.

In September, 1925, Rogers was commander of the R-4 submarine which found the missing navy seaplane PN-9 No. 1 with its five officers and men in Hawaiian waters. The plane was forced down four hours from finishing its San Francisco to Honolulu run. She drifted for nine days before being found off the island of Kauai. The crew had fashioned a sail out of one of the useless wings.

In May, 1927, he and his wife sailed from Honolulu to Wilmington, California. In April, 1930, he was stationed at the Submarine Base in Groton.

When he was promoted to lieutenant commander in May, 1938, he was stationed at Balboa, Canal Zone. In April, 1939, he and his wife and children sailed from Cristobal, Canal Zone, to New York City.

His father Louis was a retail dry goods merchant, mother Mary, brothers Nathaniel and William, and sisters Charlotte and Sarah. Nathaniel attended the Naval Academy, but he did not graduate with the Class of 1927. Brother William passed exams in November, 1922, for the Naval Academy. He attended there and graduated from Drexel University/Institute of Technology. He served in WWII and had the rank of lieutenant commander. He died in 1989 after a long career in Philadelphia life insurance companies.

From Dunkirk (New York) Evening Observer on October 28, 1943:

MAYVILLE NAVAL OFFER, KILLED
Was Serving As Commander With Fleet
Enlisted Soon After Start of World War I.

Mayville, Oct. 28--Commander Rogers Elliott, son of Mrs. Mary Elliott of this village and the late Lewis H. Elliott, has been killed in action with the Navy, according to a telegram received from the navy department. It is Mayville's first death in World War II.

Commander Elliott was 41 years old. He enlisted in the navy on April 23, 1917. He entered the Naval Academy in 1918 and following graduation started service on the U.S.S. Florida.

He was later stationed aboard the submarine, H-4, after which he served four years with the Pacific Fleet in the Hawaiian Islands. Following his return to the states he was sent to Columbia university for an engineering course, graduating from there with a master's degree.

When the U.S.S. Quincy was floated at Boston he was the first officer on board and was stationed there until transfer to the ill-fated carrier Wasp shortly after it was completed. He served the aircraft carrier as a lieutenant commander, being taken from her while the ship was on Atlantic patrol to be returned to the states and commissioned a commander.

Elliott was on the Wasp when it made its daring dash into the Mediterranean to deliver planes and supplies to Malta only a few weeks before it was sunk in the Pacific.

Commander Elliott is survived by his wife, Mrs. Marion B. Elliott of New London, Conn., two children, Barbara Ann, 15 and Rogers, Jr., 12; his mother, Mrs. Mary Elliott of Mayville; two brothers, N. Y. Elliott, Mayville, and William Elliott, now serving with the Navy at Philadelphia; two sisters, Mrs. G. Ross Morrell of Hornell and Mrs. Robert Simmonds of Corning.

He was a member of William L. Travis Post, American Legion, and Peacock Lodge, F. and A. M., both of Mayville.

His wife was listed as next of kin. He has one memory marker in New York, and another in Arlington National Cemetery.

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.

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.

May 1923
Ensign, USS Florida

July 1923
Ensign, USS Florida

Others at this command:
September 1923
Ensign, USS Florida

Others at this command:
November 1923
Ensign, USS Florida

Others at this command:
January 1924
Ensign, USS Florida

Others at this command:
March 1924
Ensign, USS Florida

Others at this command:
May 1924
Ensign, USS Florida
July 1924
Ensign, USS Florida

September 1924
Ensign, under instruction, USS Chewink

Others at this command:
November 1924
Ensign, under instruction, USS Chewink
January 1925
Ensign, under instruction, USS Chewink

March 1925
Ensign, USS R-4
May 1925
Ensign, USS R-4
July 1925
Ensign, USS R-4
October 1925
Lieutenant (j.g.), USS R-4
January 1926
Lieutenant (j.g.), USS R-4
October 1926
Lieutenant (j.g.), USS R-4
January 1927
Lieutenant (j.g.), USS R-4
April 1927
Lieutenant (j.g.), USS R-4
July 1928
Lieutenant (j.g.), under instruction, Columbia University, New York

October 1928
Lieutenant (j.g.), under instruction, Columbia University, New York

January 1929
Lieutenant (j.g.), under instruction, Columbia University, New York

April 1929
Lieutenant (j.g.), under instruction, Columbia University, New York

July 1929
Lieutenant (j.g.), under instruction, Office of the Inspector of Naval Materiel, General Electric Co., Schenectady, New York

Others at this command:
October 1929
Lieutenant, engineering officer, Submarine Division 2, USS O-4
January 1930
Lieutenant, engineering officer, Submarine Division 2, USS O-4
April 1930
Lieutenant, engineering officer, Submarine Division 2, USS O-4
October 1930
Lieutenant, engineering officer, Submarine Division 2, USS O-4
January 1931
Lieutenant, engineering officer, Submarine Division 2, USS O-4
April 1931
Lieutenant, engineering officer, Submarine Division 1, USS O-4
July 1931
Lieutenant, commanding officer, USS S-4

Others at this command:
October 1931
Lieutenant, commanding officer, USS S-4
January 1932
Lieutenant, commanding officer, USS S-4
April 1932
Lieutenant, commanding officer, USS S-4
October 1932
Lieutenant, Submarine Base Pearl Harbor
January 1933
Lieutenant, Submarine Base Pearl Harbor
April 1933
Lieutenant, Submarine Base Pearl Harbor
July 1933
Lieutenant, Submarine Base Pearl Harbor
October 1933
Lieutenant, Submarine Base Pearl Harbor
April 1934
Lieutenant, division engineering officer, Submarine Division 9, USS S-34
July 1934
Lieutenant, division engineering officer, Submarine Division 9, USS S-34
October 1934
Lieutenant, division engineering officer, Submarine Division 9, USS S-31

Others at or embarked at USS S-31:
January 1935
Lieutenant, division engineering officer, Submarine Division 9, USS S-31

Others at or embarked at USS S-31:
April 1935
Lieutenant, division engineering officer, Submarine Division 9, USS S-31

Others at or embarked at USS S-31:
October 1935
Lieutenant, USS Quincy

Others at this command:
January 1936
Lieutenant, USS Quincy

April 1936
Lieutenant, USS Quincy

July 1936
Lieutenant, USS Quincy

January 1937
Lieutenant, communications officer, USS Quincy

April 1937
Lieutenant, communications officer, USS Quincy

September 1937
Lieutenant, aide to commandant, 15th Naval District
January 1938
Lieutenant, aide to commandant, 15th Naval District
July 1938
Lieutenant Commander, aide to commandant, 15th Naval District
January 1939
Lieutenant Commander, aide to commandant, 15th Naval District
October 1939
Lieutenant Commander, engineering officer, USS Wasp

Others at or embarked at this command:
LT John Eldridge, Jr. '27 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 71)
LT Charles Ostrom '30 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 71)
LTjg James Fitzpatrick, Jr. '35 (Bombing Squadron (VB) 7)
LTjg Joseph Evans '36 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 72)
June 1940
Lieutenant Commander, engineering officer, USS Wasp


Others at or embarked at this command:
LT John Eldridge, Jr. '27 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 71)
LTjg James Fitzpatrick, Jr. '35 (Bombing Squadron (VB) 7)
LTjg Mark Eslick, Jr. '35 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 72)
LTjg Dewitt Harrell '35 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 71)
LTjg Joseph Evans '36 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 72)
LTjg Webster Johnson '36 (Fighting Squadron (VF) 7)
November 1940
Lieutenant Commander, engineering officer, USS Wasp


Others at or embarked at this command:
LT John Eldridge, Jr. '27 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 71)
LTjg James Fitzpatrick, Jr. '35 (Fighting Squadron (VF) 71)
LTjg Mark Eslick, Jr. '35 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 72)
LTjg Dewitt Harrell '35 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 71)
LTjg Webster Johnson '36 (Fighting Squadron (VF) 72)
LTjg Donald Patterson '37 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 71)
April 1941
Lieutenant Commander, engineering officer, USS Wasp


Others at or embarked at this command:
LT John Eldridge, Jr. '27 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 71)
LT Baylies Clark '30 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 71)
LTjg James Fitzpatrick, Jr. '35 (Fighting Squadron (VF) 72)
LTjg Mark Eslick, Jr. '35 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 72)
LTjg Dewitt Harrell '35 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 71)
LTjg Webster Johnson '36 (Fighting Squadron (VF) 72)
LTjg Porter Maxwell '36 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 71)
LTjg Donald Patterson '37 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 71)
ENS Frank Case, Jr. '38 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 71)
ENS Alphonse Minvielle '38 (Scouting Squadron (VS) 72)


Class of 1922

Rogers is one of 27 members of the Class of 1922 on Virtual Memorial Hall.

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