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Commander William L. Herndon. In 1857 Commander Herndon was in command of the commercial vessel Central America, under assignment to the United States government, when it ran into hurricane force winds. Commander Herndon gave everything he had to the rescue of those in his care. He evacuated 31 women and 28 children before the ship sank into the stormy waters off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. He gave his watch to one of the women and asked her to get it to his wife, explaining that he could not leave the ship while anyone remained on board. Survivors told of seeing Commander Herndon go down with his ship, cigar chomped in his teeth, his head bowed in prayer — a portrait of courage, devotion to his charge, and defiance of fear. Two U. S, Navy vessels have since been commissioned in his memory.

I cried when I first read this story at Annapolis many years ago, and again today. The first time was both out of admiration for the Captain and out of sadness that America had lost such a great man. The second time was out of despair for our Navy, which has gone from naming ships for heroes to naming one the USS Murtha!

...out of despair for our Navy, which has gone from naming ships for heroes to naming one the USS Murtha!

Ditto. The way things are going, wouldn’t be surprised to see a USS Harvey Milk in the not too distant future.