Ships
- USS Nehenta Bay (CVE-74) Commanding officer from 3 January 1944 · Relieved on 27 December 1944
- USS Hancock (CV-19) Captain from 10 December 1945 · Relieved on 12 September 1946
Source-limited.
Horace Bushnell Butterfield was born on 26 November 1899 in West Pullman, on the far south side of Chicago. He entered the Naval Academy as a midshipman on 12 June 1918 and was commissioned ensign with the Class of 1922 on 3 June 1922. He rose steadily through the ranks: lieutenant (junior grade) in 1925, lieutenant in 1929, lieutenant commander in 1938, temporary commander on 1 January 1942, commander on 30 June 1942, and temporary captain on 1 April 1943.
From 2 September 1942 to 6 April 1943 he commanded the seaplane tender Mackinac (AVP-13). On 3 January 1944 he took command of the escort carrier Nehenta Bay (CVE-74). He kept her for nearly a year, as escort carriers ferried planes, guarded the fleet's oilers and flew air cover across the Central Pacific. In December 1944 his ship was with the Third Fleet's replenishment group when Typhoon Cobra struck. Three destroyers capsized and hundreds of men were lost. The U.S. Naval Institute's Naval History magazine has written about Nehenta Bay's ordeal in that storm. He left her on 27 December 1944.
After the war he commanded the fleet carrier Hancock (CV-19), from 10 December 1945 to 12 September 1946. He retired on 1 July 1952 with the rank of rear admiral. He died on 11 March 1986, aged 86, in Pierce County, Washington.
Sources
uboat.net, Allied Warship Commanders: Horace Bushnell Butterfield (born 26 Nov 1899 West Pullman, Chicago; died 11 Mar 1986 Pierce, Wash.; USNA 1922; ranks; Mackinac, Nehenta Bay).
U.S. Naval Institute, Naval History, October 2008, "Battling the Pacific's Most Deadly Force" (Typhoon Cobra).
NavSource, CV-19 commanding officers.