Ships
- USS Breton (CVE-23) Captain from 7 October 1944 · Relieved on 4 July 1945
Frank O'Beirne was born on 26 November 1903 in Biloxi, Mississippi, and grew up in Elgin, Illinois. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1926 and later earned a master's degree in aeronautical engineering at the University of Michigan. As a young naval aviator he flew with Charles Lindbergh as part of the Navy's aerobatic program.
When the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor in December 1941 he commanded a scouting unit there. Late in the war he commanded the escort carrier Breton, from October 1944 to July 1945. His decorations included the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star with Combat "V" and the Air Medal.
After the war he was assistant naval attaché in London (1948–50). He commanded the carrier Midway from 2 April 1952 to 4 April 1953, served with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and commanded the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project at Sandia Base, Albuquerque. He finished his career as a vice admiral in command of the Atlantic Fleet's naval air forces (COMNAVAIRLANT) and retired in 1963.
He then worked as a consultant to North American Aviation and ARINC Research. A golfer, photographer and genealogist, he lived in McLean, Virginia. He died of multiple organ failure at Inova Fairfax Hospital on 19 October 1998, at 94, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on 16 November 1998.