Frederick T. Moore Jr. (May 18, 1914 – August 2, 1969) was a United States Navy captain. During World War II, he was executive officer of Fighter Squadron 1 operating off the carrier and commanding officer of the Air Group 35 aboard the aircraft carrier in the Pacific. During the Korean War, he was the commanding officer of naval air training at NAS Pensacola and the air officer on . His first sea command was aboard . In 1962–1963, Moore was the eighth commanding officer of . Late in his career during the Vietnam War, he was Chief of Staff of the Naval Air Training Command at Naval Air Station Pensacola from October 1965 to July 1969.
Early years Moore was born in the Oak Square section of Brighton, Massachusetts, in Boston on May 18, 1914, the son of Frederick T. Moore Sr. and Susan Frances (O'Donnell) Moore. He was the second oldest of six children. His father was a regional sales representative for Dunlop tires. Moore came from a family whose roots in the United States go back to the 1630s and include ancestors who fought in the American Revolution at the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Battle of Bunker HillMassachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War page 93, Jones, John, Princeton; page 922, Moore, Issac, Sudbury; page 926, Moore, Jonathan, Harvard; page 933, Moore, Samuel, Worcester and the American Civil War.Massachusetts Civil War Records - Fifty-first Regiment Mass. Volunteer Infantry, page 568, Moore, Edward L.New Hampshire Civil War Records - First Regiment New Hampshire Volunteer Heavy Artillery, page 947, Moore, Edward L.
T. Moore played hockey in both high school and college. He attended Boston Latin School and Boston College graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1936.
During his scholastic years at Boston Latin, Moore was the top goal scorer of all the Boston high school ice hockey leagues.Boston Latin Yearbook "Liber Actorum" 1932 At Boston College, he was captain of the hockey team and a member of the football and golf teams. Moore was prominent in athletics and social affairs throughout his four years at the Boston College. One of his close lifelong friends from the class of 1936 at BC was Tip O'Neil, future Congressman from Massachusetts and Speaker of the US House of Representatives. Upon graduation, Moore reported to Naval Air Station Pensacola for flight training and was commissioned ensign, USNR and designated a Naval Aviator on August 1, 1938.1938 Flight Jacket Yearbook - Aviation Cadet Battalion - US Naval Air Station - Pensacola, FL
Early naval career
In September 1938, Ensign Moore joined Fighting Squadron Five (VF-5) on board the operating out of NAS North Island in San Diego, California. Ensign Moore flew off Yorktown from September 1938 thru September 1940. The primary aircraft flown by VF-5 in the late 1930s was the Grumman F3F, the last American biplane fighter aircraft.Navy Department Bureau of Naval Personnel, Washington, D.C. Records archived at the National Personnel Records Center, (Military Personnel Records), 9700 Page Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63132-5100
During his assignment to VF5 and Yorktown on the West Coast, in December 1939, now Lieutenant (junior grade) Moore took leave to travel back to Boston to marry his longtime sweetheart, Catherine Mary Donovan from Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts. They were married on December 26, 1939, at Saint Ambrose Church in Dorchester followed by a reception at the Copely Plaza in Copley Square in downtown Boston.
In May 1940, Moore was promoted to lieutenant. In October 1940, Moore was transferred back to NAS Pensacola as executive officer of the naval flight school. As the nations of the world moved toward World War II, Naval Air Station Pensacola once again became the hub of air training activities, training 1,100 cadets a month or 13,220 annually. Lieutenant Moore played a key role in making this massive ramp up in naval aviators to become known as one of 'the wonders of the modern world'.Quote from Senator Ralph Owen Brewster [R-Maine](February 22, 1888 - December 25, 1961)
World War II
In March 1943, Lieutenant Moore moved to Pearl Harbor to meet with Fighter Squadron 1 and later that summer VF1 joined the new . The VF-1 squadron was established in March 1943, operating Grumman F6F Hellcats and was assigned to the United States Pacific Fleet to participate in numerous missions during World War II. With Lieutenant Moore as the executive officer, VF1 first fought the Japanese at the Battle of Tarawa, flying off from November 20 to November 22, 1943. The VF-1 squadron flew a total of 106 missions and spent 237 hours of flying time in three days of operations without losing a single plane or pilot.
Fighter Squadron 1 continued fighting off Yorktown with their Grumman F6F Hellcat aircraft in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, Marianas, Bonin Islands, and Caroline Islands.Samuel Eliot Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. 7; Aleutians, Gilberts and Marshalls: June 1942–April 1944, (Edison, NJ: Castle Books, 2001). The squadron was both land based and carrier based and it did night fighting, day fighting, bombing, and escort work. Over a fifteen-month period, VF1 attacked the Imperial Japanese Navy, sank 8 ships and damaged 16. It destroyed 102 airborne enemy planes plus 20 probables while losing only 5 in aerial combat. VF1 also ruined 61 enemy planes on the ground, silenced 46 A-A batteries, and blew up or burned 10 fuel or ammunition dumps. In June 1943, Moore transferred from the USNR to USN.
Lieutenant Moore reported aboard in March 1944 as the commanding officer (CO) of Air Group 35. Chenango arrived at Espiritu Santo in April 1944 and sortied for the landings at Aitape and Hollandia and then joined the invasion of the Marianas. Air Group 35 crippled airfield installations, sank enemy shipping, and hammered harbor facilities on Pagan Island, as well as conducting valuable photographic reconnaissance on Guam. In May 1944, Moore was promoted to lieutenant commander.
In June 1944, launching 32 planes in the attack on Pagan Island, Air Group 35 absolutely crippled Japanese airfield installations there, and shot up gun positions and personnel. At the Battle of Guam (1944), AG35 dropped 74 tons of bombs, destroying many Japanese gun emplacements, troop concentrations, bridges, and truck convoys. A desperately needed Japanese ammunition storage dump exploded with spectacular violence. In October 1944, Chenango Hellcats conducted softening up strikes on Leyte in preparation for the invasion landings at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Air Group 35 shot down 93 Japanese planes and sunk or destroyed 91 ships. AG35 lost only five pilots. Throughout its thirteen months of flying through the fiercest kind of anti-aircraft fire, Air Group 35 flew 4,644 sorties in combat zones and not one enemy plane or submarine succeeded in damaging the US surface vessels that AG35 was covering.Gene R. Casey, September 21, 1945, "West Roxbury Gave Host of Heroes" - The Boston Globe
Post World War II naval assignments January 1945 – June 1946 – Training - Fighter Squadrons Chief of Naval Operations – Washington, D.C. July 1946 – June 1947 - General Line School - Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island July 1947 – Advanced to rank of commander July 1947 – December 1949 - Commander FASRON 11 - NAS North Island, San Diego, California & Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii January 1950 – May 1950 - Joint Forces Staff College – Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia June 1950 – December 1951 – Commanding officer air training - Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida January 1952 – June 1953 air officer - - Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia July 1953 – July 1954 – Student – Naval War College – Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island August 1954 – July 1956 – Faculty Staff - Naval War College – Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island August 1956 – February - 1958 operations officer - Commander Carrier Division 4 (Com Car Div 4), - Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia July 1957 – Advanced to rank of captain March 1958 – November 1958 - Assistant Head Special Weapons Branch Chief of Naval Operations, Washington, DC December 1958 – August 1961 - Navy Rep to Atomic Branch, Joint Chiefs of Staff – The Pentagon August 1961 – October 1962 - Commanding officer – – Naval Weapons Station Earle, New Jersey November 1962 – September 1963 – Commanding officer – - Mayport, Florida
Commanding officer - USS Saratoga (CV-60)
Captain Moore was the eighth commanding officer of , one of the most powerful 'super carrier' warships in the world at the time, homeported in Mayport, Florida. The first deployment for Moore after he took command was to sail to the Caribbean Sea in December 1962 to conduct flight operations off the coast of Cuba. Although the flash points of the Cuban Missile Crisis had cooled a month earlier, the United States wanted to maintain a presence in the area until all of the Soviet Union missile sites were fully dismantled. This was called the Cuban Quarantine Operation. In late 1962, Saratoga remained "on the line" in the waters off Cuba. During this time, a Russian ship was spotted moving toward Cuba – and the embargo line where it would turn back or be challenged by American ships. Saratoga crew scrambled to battle stations as general quarters was ordered by Moore. The fighter jets on the flight deck readied for launch. [Moore was about to be tested in a potentially large-scale international incident and he wasn't about to back down.] The Russian ship quickly turned around and sailed away. Although the crisis ended in late December 1962, the American ships, including Saratoga, remained in the area through the winter. Saratoga received an Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for the 3–20 December 1962 period that she was "on-line" in the waters off Cuba.Stahura, Barbara, USS Saratoga CV-3 & CVA/CV-60, page 49, Page 130, Turner Publishing Company,
Saratoga deployed to the Mediterranean Sea from March 1963 through October 1963. When not conducting flight operations underway, Saratoga entered several ports on the mission of goodwill ambassador for the United States. Ports visited were: Marseille; Barcelona; Cannes; Naples; Athens; Taranto; Genoa; Istanbul; Palma de Mallorca; Palermo; Venice; Capri; and Gibraltar.
While operating in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of France, a Grumman E-1 Tracer landed on the deck of Saratoga, logging the carrier's 69,000th arrested landing. Later on the cruise, the 72,000th arrested landing was made with a Douglas A-1 Skyraider off the coast of Italy. Newest addition to the "Ten Thousand Trap Club" was Moore, who was credited with 10,000 arrested landings when a McDonnell F3H Demon landed on the carrier in the Mediterranean. Yet another milestone was reached on the 1963 cruise with the 76,000th landing aboard Saratoga.Naval Aviation News - Department of the Navy - Naval History & Heritage Command - Naval Warfare Division - back issues (March 1963 - November 1963)
Late naval career October 1963 – January 1965 – Chief of Staff - Carrier Division Six- and – Mayport, FL