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Rear Adm. Isaac C. Kidd Sr.
Admiral Was Among 1,177 Who Died Aboard His Flagship, Arizona,
At Pearl Harbor
By Bethanne Kelly Patrick
Military.com Columnist
When the smoke had cleared and the skies had quieted over
the wreck of the USS Arizona (BB-39) on Dec. 7, 1941, all that remained of its
one-time commander was his U.S. Naval Academy ring, fused to a pole. Rear Adm.
Isaac Campbell Kidd Sr. was the highest-ranking service member killed on "the
day that will live in infamy" and the first officer killed in action in the Pacific
theater.
Kidd earned his gold class ring on his Annapolis graduation day in 1906. Promoted
to ensign in 1908, he embarked on a distinguished Navy career. After spending
1907-9 aboard the USS New Jersey (BB-16) for the "Great White Fleet" cruise, he
continued serving on battleships, at the time the most important enforcers of
maritime peace. Before World War I, Kidd served as an aide and then as an instructor
at the Naval Academy (1916-17). During the war, he served aboard the USS New Mexico
(BB-40).
Further staff and battleship assignments followed, and Kidd was named captain
of the port for the Panama Canal Zone in 1927. Soon after, he was promoted to
the rank of captain and in 1935 was named commander of Destroyer Squadron ONE,
Scouting Force. He attended the Naval War College and served on its staff before
taking command of the Arizona. By 1941, Kidd had been promoted to rear admiral
and was serving aboard his flagship, Arizona, as commander of Battleship Division
ONE and chief of staff to the commander of Battleships, Battle Force. He was known
to take a fatherly interest in the lives of his crew, who respected him as a "working
admiral."
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The USS Arizona. (Navy Photo)
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Kidd, called "Cap" by family
and friends, may have been engaging in his daily exercise at 7:55 a.m. on that
fateful Sunday. Most of the sailors stationed on Oahu, "America’s Gibraltar,"
and aboard the ships in Pearl Harbor were either still asleep or at breakfast
when the Japanese attack began. However, once the ship’s air raid alarm went off,
he "immediately went to the bridge and as Commander Battleship Division ONE, courageously
discharged his duties as Senior Officer Present Afloat," according to his Medal
of Honor citation.
No one will ever know exactly what Kidd was doing or thinking when his ship sustained
the first of eight bomb hits. His Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously; the
citation blames the explosion that ripped through the forward part of the Arizona
for his death. Of the 1,400 aboard the Arizona when it was destroyed, 1,176 of
them died that day with Kidd. |
