Ships
- USS Enterprise (CV-6) Captain from 30 June 1942 · Relieved on 21 October 1942
Arthur Cayley Davis was born on 14 March 1893 in Columbia, South Carolina. He studied at the University of Nebraska from 1909 to 1911 before entering the U.S. Naval Academy, and was commissioned an ensign in 1915.
Davis earned his wings at Pensacola in 1923 and went on to the Bureaus of Aeronautics and Ordnance, where he became one of the pioneers of dive bombing. He worked out dive-bombing techniques and, in 1925, designed a bombsight for the job. By 1934 he commanded the air group of USS Ranger. He headed the Plans Division of the Bureau of Aeronautics from 1936 to 1939, then commanded the seaplane tender Langley as she moved from the Atlantic to the Asiatic Fleet at Manila.
On 7 December 1941 he was aviation officer on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet. He was slated to command Yorktown, but she was sunk at Midway before he could report, so on 30 June 1942 he took Enterprise instead. He led her through the Guadalcanal landings and the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on 24 August 1942, when Japanese dive bombers hit her three times, killing 77 and wounding 91. He received the Navy Cross for skill in maneuvering the ship that "held the damage... to a minimum."
Promoted to rear admiral, he held senior aviation and staff posts in the Atlantic Fleet. In September 1944 Admiral Raymond Spruance chose him as chief of staff of the Fifth Fleet. Davis went on to serve into the Cold War, rose to four-star admiral, and died on 10 February 1965.