Ships
- USS Edsall (DD-219) Captain, 23 June 1921 – 29 August 1921
Robert G. Tobin was born on 17 August 1894 in Ronceverte, West Virginia. He attended the Virginia Military Institute and then the United States Naval Academy. The Navy commissioned him an ensign on 30 March 1917, as the United States entered the First World War, and made him a lieutenant junior grade that July. His first sea duty was in the destroyer Hopkins, where he served through 1919.
In 1920 he served on the staff of Commander Destroyers, Pacific Fleet, and then with Destroyer Squadron 10 in the Atlantic. From 23 June 1921 to 29 August 1921, Lieutenant Tobin was captain of Edsall. The Clemson-class destroyer, hull number DD-219, had been commissioned at Philadelphia on 26 November 1920 under A. H. Rice and had arrived at San Diego on 11 January 1921. During Tobin's weeks in command she stayed on the California coast for battle practice and gunnery drills with other ships of the fleet.
After he left her, command of Edsall passed to officers who included Harry Robert Bogusch, William Callender Irving Stiles, and Robert Todd Young. Tobin went on to the destroyer Melvin from 1922 to 1924 and to Noa from 1924 to 1926.
From 1926 to 1931 he taught at the Naval Academy. He then served in the light cruiser Marblehead, worked in the Bureau of Navigation in Washington from 1933 to 1935, and joined the battleship Pennsylvania from 1935 to 1937. He was promoted to commander on 3 June 1937. A tour in the transport Chaumont followed, and in 1938 he returned to the Naval Academy staff, remaining there into 1940.
He became a captain in 1942 and commanded Destroyer Squadron 12 during the fighting in the Solomon Islands. On the night of 11–12 October 1942, at the Battle of Cape Esperance, he kept his destroyers screening the cruisers and transports and brought those ships clear after the American force had damaged the Japanese formation. The Navy awarded him the Navy Cross. On the night of 12–13 November 1942, near Savo Island, his destroyers fought at close range against a stronger Japanese force, inflicted heavy damage, and helped stop the attack. A gold star in lieu of a second Navy Cross marked that action.
On 15 September 1943 he took command of the light cruiser Montpelier. From 30 October to 2 November 1943 the ship bombarded Japanese positions at Shortland, Faisi, and Ballale, and on the night of 1–2 November she fought in the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay off Bougainville. Tobin received a second gold star in lieu of a third Navy Cross for that service. He left Montpelier on 2 December 1943.
He was promoted to rear admiral on 2 November 1945. After the war he served at the New York Navy Yard. He died on 11 August 1958, with his home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.