Ships
- USS San Francisco (CA-38) Captain, 10 March 1945 – 10 February 1946
John Esten Whelchel was born on 1 April 1898 in Hogansville, Georgia, and grew up in Washington, D.C. He entered the United States Naval Academy on 18 August 1916, appointed from his home state. At Annapolis he played quarterback and halfback on the football team and also played basketball and baseball. During the First World War he served at sea in European waters as a midshipman. He was commissioned ensign on 7 June 1919. Friends and teammates called him Billick.
After commissioning he divided his time between sea duty and the Academy football staff, which he assisted through much of the 1920s. From 22 June 1938 to 15 June 1940 he commanded the destroyer McCall. He came back to Annapolis in 1941 as backfield coach and the next year became head coach of the Midshipmen. Navy went 5–4 in 1942 and 8–1 in 1943, when the team took the Lambert Trophy and finished fourth in the final Associated Press poll. His record as head coach was 13 wins and 5 losses. During that tour he also served as the Academy’s athletic director. He held the rank of captain from 18 June 1942.
In February 1944 the Navy sent him to the South Pacific as chief of staff to the commander of a service squadron. The Legion of Merit recognized that staff duty. About a year later he was ordered to a heavy cruiser.
Whelchel assumed command of San Francisco on 10 March 1945, relieving Harvey Edward Overesch. The ship was still engaged off Iwo Jima. A Bronze Star Medal with the combat “V” recognized his direction of her guns against Japanese positions there in March. He then took San Francisco to Okinawa. From 25 March to 24 April 1945 the cruiser worked under the threat of aircraft, surface ships, submarines, shore batteries, and small suicide craft. A Gold Star in lieu of a second Legion of Merit, also with the combat “V,” credited him with holding the ship’s fighting efficiency and with handling the batteries that inflicted heavy damage. In July, Japanese reports claimed that San Francisco had been sunk. The cruiser remained in commission and at sea.
With the fighting still underway he sailed San Francisco toward the Philippines as the fleet prepared for an invasion of the Japanese home islands. Hostilities ended in mid-August 1945, and the cruiser turned to occupation duty. That August she joined a show of force in the Yellow Sea and the Gulf of Pohai and covered minesweeping. She also served in the South China Sea in connection with the occupation of China. On 27 November 1945 the ship was ordered home and reached the city of San Francisco in the middle of December. Whelchel was detached on 10 February 1946.
He returned to staff duty as chief of staff to the Commander, Service Force, Pacific Fleet. The Senate confirmed his selection as rear admiral with date of rank 7 August 1947. In September 1948 he took command of Amphibious Group 4 in the Atlantic Fleet. On 1 August 1949 he retired after thirty years of service and was advanced to vice admiral on the retired list on the strength of his combat awards. That fall he coached the Washington Redskins of the National Football League. In the games under his direction the team won three, lost three, and tied one. He died on 5 November 1973 in Portsmouth, Virginia, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.