Ships
- USS Mississippi (BB-41) Captain from 27 June 1942 · Relieved on 16 November 1942
Calvin Hayes Cobb was born in Kittery, Maine, on 21 November 1889. Appointed to the Naval Academy from Maine on 12 June 1907, he played football and in 1908 held the academy records for punting and place-kicking. He also qualified as a sharpshooter on the rifle team and served as secretary of the midshipmen's athletic association. He graduated in July 1911, served at sea as a passed midshipman, and was commissioned ensign on 7 March 1912.
His first ship was the battleship Minnesota. In 1912 she took part in the naval review in the North River at New York. She was at Guantánamo during a civilian uprising in Cuba, and she was at Veracruz, Mexico, from 23 April to 14 July 1913. Service in Minnesota brought him the Mexican Service Medal. He afterward served in the armored cruiser Washington, duty recognized by the Haitian Campaign Medal, and he left her in October 1915.
In January 1916 Cobb took command of the destroyer Duncan. Through the First World War he had her on the hard Atlantic work of patrolling waters sown with submarines and mines, escorting convoys of troops and supplies, and keeping up offensive and defensive action against enemy naval forces. As a lieutenant commander he received the Navy Cross for that command, together with the Victory Medal and its destroyer clasp.
After the war he remained with destroyers and with engineering duty ashore. He commanded Percival from July 1922 until April 1925, then served until November 1927 in the Radio Division of the Bureau of Engineering. He commanded Billingsley from 19 November 1927 to 1 May 1930 and, for a short time after that, J. Fred Talbott. In June 1938 he became executive officer of the battleship Maryland. About a year later he took command of the ammunition ship Nitro and stayed in her until July 1940.
He returned to Annapolis as head of the Department of Modern Languages for one year and as head of the Department of Seamanship and Navigation the next. On 27 June 1942 he became captain of the battleship Mississippi. She operated in the Central and South Pacific under his command until he was relieved on 16 November 1942.
In November 1942 he was designated commander of the Service Squadron, South Pacific, with the rank of rear admiral. From 20 November 1942 to 5 February 1944 he handled the logistics and fleet service that got damaged ships into repair and kept advanced bases supplied while the fighting in that theater was at its heaviest. The Legion of Merit followed that tour. He came home in March 1944, served briefly in the Bureau of Naval Personnel, and on 26 June 1944 became president of the Naval Examining and Retiring Board. Until January 1945 he was also senior member of the Board of Medals and Awards and president of the Permanent Uniform Board.
Later in January 1945 he was named commander of naval forces under the commanding general of the Tenth Army in the Ryukyus, and he served in that post until August 1945. A Gold Star in lieu of a second Legion of Merit, with the Combat "V", recognized his service from 15 January to 29 August 1945. He was relieved of active duty on 3 July 1946 and retired on 1 November 1946 in the rank of vice admiral, advanced on the basis of combat awards. Cobb died on 29 March 1961. His other medals included the American Defense Service Medal with fleet clasp, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the American Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.