Lynde Dupuy McCormick (August 12, 1895 – August 16, 1956) was a four-star admiral in the United States Navy who served as vice chief of naval operations from 1950 to 1951 and as commander in chief of the United States Atlantic Fleet from 1951 to 1954, and was the first supreme allied commander of all NATO forces in the Atlantic.
Early career
Born in Annapolis, Maryland to the former Edith Lynde Abbot and naval surgeon, late Rear admiral Albert Montgomery Dupuy McCormick, he attended St. John's Preparatory School and College, a military school in Annapolis. In 1911, he was appointed by President William Howard Taft to the United States Naval Academy, where he played lacrosse and soccer and, as a first classman, was business manager of the Academy yearbook, the Lucky Bag. He graduated second in a class of 183 and was commissioned ensign in the United States Navy in June 1915.
World War I
His first assignment was aboard the battleship Wyoming, operating in the Caribbean Sea and along the eastern seaboard. In November 1917, following the United States entry into World War I, Wyoming and the rest of Battleship Division 9 (, Delaware, and Florida) joined the British Grand Fleet as its Sixth Battle Squadron and were present at the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet in the North Sea after the armistice.
In April 1919, McCormick was assigned as aide and flag lieutenant on the staff of Commander Battleship Division 4, United States Fleet. He served aboard the battleship South Carolina from June to September, then became aide and flag lieutenant to Commander Destroyer Squadron 4, Pacific Fleet, aboard the squadron flagship Birmingham. He transferred to the destroyer Buchanan in December 1920.
Interwar
In August 1921, he briefly commanded the destroyer Kennedy, before going ashore in October as an instructor in the Department of Navigation at the Naval Academy.
He began a long association with submarine warfare in June 1923 when he became a student at the Submarine School in New London, Connecticut. He then served until June 1924 in the submarine S-31, operating with Submarine Division 16 in the Pacific. After short assignments with the submarine S-37 and submarine tender Canopus, he commanded the submarine R-10, based at Honolulu, Hawaii, from August 1924 until June 1926, when he was detailed to the Naval Academy as a member of the executive department. In August 1928, he began almost three years as commanding officer of the fleet submarine V-2, operating with Submarine Division 20 in support of the United States Fleet in maneuvers off the West Coast, the Hawaiian Islands, and the Caribbean Sea.
In May 1931, he began a three-year tour at the Naval Academy as aide to the new superintendent, Rear Admiral Thomas C. Hart. When Hart finished his tour as superintendent in June 1934, McCormick rejoined the fleet as navigator of the light cruiser Marblehead. He took command of the fleet oiler Neches in April 1936.
In June 1937, he was enrolled as a student in the senior course at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. After completing the course in May 1938, he remained at the Naval War College for an additional year as a member of the staff.
World War II
In June 1939, he became operations officer on the staff of Vice Admiral Charles P. Snyder, Commander Battleships, Battle Force, aboard Snyder's flagship West Virginia. When Snyder was elevated to command of the entire Battle Force in January 1940, McCormick followed him to the Battle Force flagship California as operations officer on the Battle Force staff. Snyder requested early relief in January 1941 after his superior, Admiral James O. Richardson, was summarily replaced by Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, the new Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet. Upon assuming command in February 1941, Kimmel recruited McCormick to be assistant war plans officer on the Pacific Fleet staff, in which post McCormick was serving during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
After the Pearl Harbor disaster, Kimmel was relieved by Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, who retained Kimmel's entire staff. McCormick became Nimitz' war plans officer in April 1942, serving in that capacity during the battles of the Coral Sea, Midway, and Guadalcanal. On June 30, 1942, McCormick was injured in a seaplane accident while accompanying Nimitz to Alameda Naval Air Station. Despite suffering a fractured vertebra, McCormick never went on the sick list, choosing to continue on active duty while wearing a plaster cast for three months.