Ships
- USS Shangri-La (CV-38) Captain from 5 July 1946 · Relieved on 21 July 1947
Source-limited. NHHC has a modern biographical file for him, but this run could not reach the NHHC site.
Wilson Patterson Cogswell was born on 11 December 1901 in Attica, Wyoming County, New York. He graduated from the Naval Academy with the Class of 1922 and became a naval aviator. He was promoted to lieutenant commander on 30 June 1937, commander on 1 January 1942 and temporary captain on 21 June 1942.
During the war he commanded the seaplane tender Curtiss (AV-4), from 3 December 1942 to 15 October 1943. Curtiss had been damaged at Pearl Harbor and served afterward as a flagship and tender for patrol squadrons in the South Pacific.
After the war he commanded the carrier Shangri-La (CV-38), from 5 July 1946 to 21 July 1947. During his command she was in the support fleet for Operation Crossroads, the atomic bomb tests at Bikini in 1946.
He died on 23 October 1986 in Santa Clara, California, at 84.
Needed: his later career and family, from the NHHC file.
Sources
uboat.net, Allied Warship Commanders: Wilson Patterson Cogswell (born 11 Dec 1901 Attica, N.Y.; died 23 Oct 1986 Santa Clara, Calif.; USNA 1922; ranks; Curtiss).
NavSource, CV-38 commanding officers; NHHC biographical-file listing (Operation Crossroads).
Wikipedia/DANFS, "USS Curtiss (AV-4)."