Ships
- USS Yorktown (CV-10) Captain, 29 September 1944 – 23 April 1945
Thomas Selby Combs was born on 25 March 1898 in Lamar, Barton County, Missouri, the son of Orin Preston Combs and Grace Davis Combs. He entered the Naval Academy with the Class of 1920, which graduated a year early in 1919 because of the war. In the summer of 1918, as a midshipman, he served in the battleship Kansas on Atlantic convoy duty.
He served in several ships until 1922 and then trained as a naval aviator at Pensacola. Over the next twenty years he served in carriers, including Saratoga, and on admirals' staffs, and he commanded a squadron in Enterprise. He reached commander on 1 July 1939. When the Pacific war began he commanded the seaplane tender Casco (AVP-12), from 27 December 1941 to 18 August 1942, tending patrol planes in the Aleutians. Later in 1942 he went to the South Pacific as chief of staff to the commander of aircraft there.
On 29 September 1944 he took command of Yorktown (CV-10) from Ralph Jennings. Under him she fought through the Leyte and Luzon campaigns, the January 1945 sweep into the South China Sea, and the February 1945 strikes on Tokyo and Iwo Jima. On 18 March 1945, off Kyushu, she came under air attack, and he received the Silver Star for that action. He handed her to Walter F. Boone on 23 April 1945.
His later career took him to the top of naval aviation. From 1 May 1951 to 30 June 1953 he was Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics. He also held the Third Naval District, the Atlantic Reserve Fleet and the New York naval base, served on the U.S. delegation to the United Nations, and commanded the Second Fleet. From June 1954 to March 1955 he commanded the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean, succeeding John H. Cassady, and from 1955 to 1956 he was Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Air). He received the Navy Distinguished Service Medal twice, the second for duty from December 1958 to April 1960. He retired as a vice admiral in 1960.
In retirement he was chairman and executive director of the Florida Judicial Council during its investigation of the state's court system. He was married to Agnes Williamson. He died in Tallahassee on 9 December 1964 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. The New York Times ran his obituary.
Date flag: German Wikipedia says he took over Yorktown in July 1944. NavSource, uboat.net and the live page all give 29 September 1944.
Sources
German Wikipedia, "Thomas S. Combs" (birth, parents, career, death; links NYT obituary and Find a Grave).
uboat.net, Allied Warship Commanders: Thomas Selby Combs (USNA 1920; ranks; Casco; CV-10).
Military Times Hall of Valor: Thomas Combs (Silver Star 18 March 1945; second DSM).
NHHC, United States Naval Aviation 1910–1995, Appendix 2 (Chief, BuAer; Sixth Fleet; DCNO Air).
Wikipedia, "USS Yorktown (CV-10)" (operations, Oct 1944 – Apr 1945); Live Pacific Ships CV-10 page.