Ships
- USS Nevada (BB-36) Captain from 23 October 1919 · Relieved on 4 May 1920
William Dugald MacDougall was born in Auburn, New York, on 20 June 1868, the son of Clinton Dugald MacDougall and Eva Sabine. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1889 and was commissioned that June. His active career lasted until the summer of 1932, and he left the service as a rear admiral.
As a younger officer he served in the war with Spain and later wore the Spanish Campaign Medal. In the autumn of 1912 he commanded the gunboat Nashville, one of the smaller ships that carried him toward command of a major combatant.
During the First World War he commanded the cruiser Tacoma on the hard, repetitive work of moving troops and supplies to European ports and escorting them through waters sown with mines and hunted by submarines. The Navy Cross recognized that service. He also received the World War I Victory Medal with the escort clasp.
On 23 October 1919 MacDougall became captain of the battleship Nevada. The ship was then in the peacetime fleet that followed the Armistice, and his tour was a short one. He was relieved on 4 May 1920 by Luke McNamee.
His later duties took him ashore and into flag rank. He commanded the Base Force of the United States Fleet, served as superintendent of the Naval Observatory, and was commandant of the Fifth Naval District. He retired on 1 July 1932.
MacDougall married Charlotte Sackett Stone, and they had two children. One of their daughters married Henrik Kauffmann, Denmark's ambassador to the United States during the Second World War. MacDougall died in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on 5 March 1943, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.