Ships
- USS Atlanta (CL-104) Captain from 12 May 1948 · Relieved on 12 May 1948
Rodger Whitten Simpson was a rear admiral of the United States Navy, Naval Academy class of 1921. NavSource gives him Atlanta (CL-104) for a single day, 12 May 1948, with the rank of captain at the time and rear admiral as the final rank. The frigate Simpson (FFG-56) was named for him.
He was born on 4 June 1898 in Portland, Oregon, and died on 10 December 1964. Wikipedia's infobox places his grave at Arlington National Cemetery and gives no section or grave number. The fetched pages do not give a cause of death.
Wikipedia says he attended the University of Oregon for a year, entered the Naval Academy in June 1917, served as a midshipman in the battleship Ohio (BB-12) with the Atlantic Fleet during the First World War, and was commissioned an ensign in June 1920 with the class of 1921. The Hall of Valor agrees on the class of 1921 and on retirement as a rear admiral. It prints his service number as 0-30986.
The Hall of Valor prints a Navy Cross for 22 October 1942, when, as a commander and commanding officer of Mahan (DD-364), he took part in a daylight raid on a Japanese patrol line south of the Gilbert Islands. The citation says two Japanese vessels were sunk by Mahan and an accompanying destroyer, under heavy air attack, and that his ship came through without loss or damage. It cites Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 315 of June 1943. Wikipedia says that, as a lieutenant commander, he commanded Mahan at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on 26 October 1942. The two dates are four days apart, and the two pages do not use the same rank.
Wikipedia says he was promoted to commander and commanded Destroyer Division 15, Sterett (DD-407), Stack (DD-406), and Lang (DD-399), which with three ships of Destroyer Division 12 under Commander Frederick Moosbrugger sank three Japanese destroyers and damaged one in the Battle of Vella Gulf on the night of 6–7 August 1943. The Hall of Valor prints a Gold Star in lieu of a second Navy Cross for that night, to Captain, then commander, Rodger Whitten Simpson, as commander of Destroyer Division 15. The printed citation says the attack annihilated a hostile force of one Japanese cruiser and three destroyers, and that the destroyer force came through without loss or damage. The bulletin it names is No. 326 of May 1944. The citation text includes the printed phrase "enabled out destroyer force." Wikipedia's count of the Japanese ships is three destroyers sunk and one damaged, and it names no cruiser.
The Hall of Valor also prints a Silver Star to Commodore, then captain, Simpson as commander of a destroyer squadron in the Bismarck Archipelago from 14 to 25 February 1944, for strikes against shipping and combatant units in Rabaul and Kavieng. The citation says the squadron contributed to the sinking of three Japanese vessels and to damage ashore, under bombing and under fire from ships and shore batteries. The page's data line places that award with Mahan, while the citation text describes a squadron commander. The bulletin number printed beside the Silver Star is No. 315 of June 1943, the same number printed beside the October 1942 Navy Cross, and that bulletin date falls before the February 1944 action.
A Legion of Merit, as commodore and commander of Task Group 30.6 under Commander Third Fleet, covers 23 August to 19 September 1945. The citation says he planned the liberation and evacuation of Allied prisoners of war in Japan, led rescue parties before the surrender was signed, began freeing prisoners as early as 29 August, and sent teams through the Tokyo area and the territory around it. Wikipedia says that on 6 April 1944, as commodore, he commanded Task Flotilla 6 and planned the rescue of more than 7,500 Allied prisoners of war and interned civilians, and it also describes the 1945 arrival of Task Group 30.6 in Tokyo Bay with Commander Harold E. Stassen and Admiral William F. Halsey. The Legion of Merit citation dates the evacuation to August and September 1945 and does not mention 6 April 1944.
Wikipedia lists, without dates, command of the Training Command, Marianas; the Fleet Training Group, Western Pacific; the Underway Training Unit, Guam; Atlanta (CL-104); and the Naval Station at Treasure Island. NavSource is the dated source for the cruiser: captain, 12 May 1948, relieved the same day. Commander Charles Adams Blakely, Jr., is the next name on that list. Wikipedia says Simpson retired in 1951. A photograph caption on the Wikipedia page reads "Rodger W. Simpson, Change of Command 1948 USS Atlanta."