Ships
- USS Lexington (CV-2) Captain from 31 May 1932 · Relieved on 5 June 1934
Charles Adams Blakely was born on 1 October 1879 at Williamsburg, Kentucky, and graduated from Williamsburg Academy in 1897. In the summer of 1898 he served with the 2nd Kentucky Volunteer Infantry in the Spanish-American War. He was appointed a naval cadet in 1899, graduated from the Academy on 2 February 1903, and was commissioned an ensign in 1905.
His first 25 years were spent almost entirely in surface ships. He served in Santee, Baltimore, Cleveland, Denver and the yacht Mayflower, and commanded torpedo boats, the reserve torpedo flotillas and the cruiser Atlanta. In World War I he commanded the destroyer O'Brien in the waters around the British Isles. He later commanded the battleship Texas (1925–26) and the Asiatic Fleet's destroyer squadron.
He came to aviation late. He commanded Lexington from 1932 to 1934. He finished the senior course at the Naval War College and then went back to Pensacola, and on 10 March 1936, at 54, he was designated a naval aviator. He commanded the Pensacola station, then Carrier Division 2 and Aircraft, Scouting Force. As a vice admiral he commanded Aircraft, Battle Force from 1939, flying his flag in Yorktown. His last post was Commandant, 11th Naval District, at San Diego.
Ill health brought his relief on 9 December 1941, two days after Pearl Harbor. He retired in 1942 and died in San Diego on 12 September 1950. The frigate USS Blakely (DE-1072/FF-1072) was named partly in his honor.