Ships
- USS Reno (CL-96) Captain from 28 December 1943 · Relieved on 13 February 1945
Ralph Clonts Alexander commissioned the light cruiser Reno (CL-96) on 28 December 1943 and had her until 13 February 1945. He was in command when a plane crashed on her deck off Formosa, when she lay alongside Princeton, and when I-41 torpedoed her. He retired a rear admiral on 1 June 1948 and died in 1970.
The Navy Department Library biography says he was born on 14 September 1897 at Campbell, Texas. Find a Grave gives the same date and places Campbell in Hunt County. He was appointed to the Naval Academy from Ohio in 1914.
He was graduated and commissioned ensign on 28 June 1917, with the class of 1918. Uboat.net dates the ensign's commission 29 June 1917 and a temporary lieutenant (junior grade) from 15 October 1917. The biography says captain from 15 June 1942, which matches uboat.net's temporary captaincy. After graduation he served in Virginia and then Salem, and he was her gunnery officer from 1920. In 1922 he was executive officer of Marcus, then aide and flag lieutenant to Commander, Destroyer Squadrons, Pacific Fleet, in Charleston, and then executive officer of Melvin. From the summer of 1923 he had two years at the Naval Academy, then Tennessee until October 1926, then the staff of Commander, Battleship Divisions, in West Virginia, and the staff of the Commander in Chief, Battle Fleet, in California. A second Academy tour ran from 1928 into the summer of 1930. He was then executive officer of Dorsey. From April 1932 to the summer of 1934 he was aide and flag lieutenant to Commander, Destroyers, Battle Force, in Detroit. The biography then sends him to the Office of Naval Operations until June 1937, when he took command of Cassin. It says that from June 1940 until May of that year he was at the Naval War College. The dates as printed cannot both be right. They are left as printed. A French Legion of Honor, the biography says, was for his command of Cassin.
From the war's start he was in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. A letter of commendation covers December 1941 to June 1943 and credits him with the military characteristics, organization, and early delivery of motor torpedo boats, and with moving large landing craft from the interior to salt water on the inland waterways. The commendation says the boats were gotten forward before the Japanese attack in the Philippines. He left the Department in June 1943, reported to Bethlehem Steel at San Francisco to fit out Reno, and took command when she commissioned on 28 December 1943. NavSource ends that command on 13 February 1945. The biography says he served in her until February 1945.
A letter of commendation covers 13-30 June 1944 in the ship. The Navy Cross covers 14-24 October 1944. The citation in the biography says that in a heavy air attack he fought the ship so that she shot down six torpedo planes despite damage from a Japanese aircraft, and that he then kept her in a position to help Princeton in spite of smoke, fire, and the danger of major explosions. The Legion of Merit with Combat "V" covers 3-10 November 1944. After the torpedo hit he got the damaged ship back to port in bad weather, with the chance of further attack. Hall of Valor prints a garbled form of that Legion of Merit, including the ship's name as RENOW and the word airmanship, and a shorter Navy Cross. The biography's texts are the ones used here.
From April to October 1945 he was on the staff of the Naval War College. He then went back to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. From 1 July 1946 until he was relieved of active duty he was chief of the Fleet Maintenance Division. He was transferred to the retired list on 1 June 1948 and promoted to rear admiral. Find a Grave and uboat.net say he died on 15 July 1970 at Bethesda, Maryland. Find a Grave buries him at Cedar Cemetery, Jamestown, Rhode Island.