Ships
- USS Tucson (CL-98) Captain from November 1946 · Relieved on 30 July 1947
Elmer Paul Abernethy had the light cruiser Tucson (CL-98) from November 1946 until 30 July 1947. The war was over. NavSource lists him as a captain of the class of 1921B and gives his final rank as rear admiral. His Navy biography, dated 4 June 1948, still calls him captain, to rank from 21 June 1942.
He was born on 14 June 1899 at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Find a Grave memorial 252070 records his death on 15 December 1990 in San Diego County, California, aged 91, and burial at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, Section Y, Site C-1292F. The Navy Department Library file header carries the same two dates.
He was graduated from Oklahoma City High School and entered the Naval Academy from Oklahoma in June 1917. In the summer of 1918 he served as a midshipman in Missouri. He was graduated and commissioned ensign in June 1921. Uboat.net dates the ensign commission 3 June 1921. After graduation he went to the battleship New York in the Pacific, then to the destroyer Parrott with the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron, including the burning of Smyrna in September 1922. He came home in Goff and went to the Torpedo School at Newport. Before the war he also served in the destroyers Reuben James and Greer, in New York again, and in the cruiser Salt Lake City. For two years he was flag lieutenant on the staff of Commander, Cruiser Division 4, in Northampton. From May 1937 to May 1938 he was communications officer of Maryland. Shore duty took him as aide to the commandants of the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Naval Districts, to the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, and to the Naval Gun Factory in Washington as an inspector of guns.
In July 1940 he took command of the Asiatic Fleet oiler Pecos (AO-6). She was in Manila on 7 December 1941 and left the night of 8 December for Darwin. The biography says she missed the Japanese entry at Keopang by five hours, went to Soerabaja, and was nearby when Houston and Marblehead were hit. She fueled Allied ships at Tjilatjap. On 27 February 1942 Langley was sunk off the south coast of Java. Pecos took the survivors from two destroyers after a rendezvous at Christmas Island, and on 1 March aircraft from a Japanese carrier sank her. Abernethy was wounded. The Navy Cross citation, as the biography prints it, says he kept her engines and guns going until she opened to the sea, and then directed the abandonment under strafing. He received the Purple Heart.
He became executive officer of the transport President Jackson. She landed troops at Guadalcanal on 7 August 1942. The Legion of Merit covers that duty through 30 June 1943, including reinforcement runs and the Rendova assault. Hall of Valor prints the Guadalcanal-Tulagi landing as 7 August 1943. The Navy citation places it on 7 August, inside a period that begins 7 August 1942. In June 1943 he commanded Boat Pool Number 8, which the biography says carried 20,000 troops into the Rendova-Munda beaches without losing a soldier in the boats. He then had President Jackson again for the Bougainville and Emirau landings. Admiral Nimitz commended him for the night of 8 November 1943 off Empress Augusta Bay, when about a hundred Japanese planes attacked the force and he maneuvered the ship under difficult navigation. From May 1945 until November 1946 he was port director and operations officer of the Thirteenth Naval District at Seattle.
The biography says he assumed command of Tucson in November 1946 and was relieved in July 1947, then ordered to command the Naval Ordnance Plant at South Charleston, West Virginia. On 11 August 1947 he was ordered instead as public information officer on the staff of Commander, Marianas, and he served there until 7 May 1948, when he was ordered to the San Diego Group of the Pacific Reserve Fleet. The biography ends there. NavSource's day for the Tucson relief is 30 July 1947. Hall of Valor says he retired a rear admiral. Uboat.net dates that retirement June 1952. He died on 15 December 1990.