Rear Admiral Yates Sterling Jr.

[Gldank]

I recently acquired a portion of the Rear Admiral Yates Sterling Jr. estate. The group includes many photographs, letters, naval papers, book manuscripts, speeches and much more. the following medals are displayed:

 

Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United State (MOLLUS) #12593

New York Society of Military and Naval Officers World War

Brooklyn Rotary Club Guest Speaker Medal

Veterans of Foreign Wars 40th National Encampment Boston 1939 Distinguished Guest

Venezuelan Order of the Liberator Commander

Italian Order of the Crown Commander

French Legion of Honor Officer

 

 

[Dave]

I'd love to see more! His medal bar is in the possession of a fellow forum member.

[huntssurplus]

Really nice thanks for sharing!

Hunt

[Gldank]

Veterans of Foreign Wars Medal of Commendation presented by Admiral Sterling Yates Sr. to his son Sterling Yates Jr. Farther and Son Admirals. Solid gold and beautiful engraving.

[katieony]

A really nice group!

[Gldank]

I have several pictures. Yates Sterling Jr.

[Gldank]

Yates Sterling Sr.

[aerialbridge]

James, Congratulations on acquiring an amazingly historic grouping. I had seen that auction a couple years back, and if I had not just made a large purchase, would have pointed and clicked on it myself. I hope you decide to post more of this group in the future. The "many photographs, letters, naval papers, book manuscripts, speeches and much more" must be incredible. The medals are beautiful, but the papers are the legacy of the man that literally still speak to anyone that can read them, 70 years after Yates Stirling took his last breath. IMO, he was one of the great pre-WWII naval figures of the last century-- and he wrote some great op-ed pieces and speeches during the war. He was a real Yankee Doodle Dandy and the record shows, he took the blows, and did it his way. If he hadn't, he would have had 4 stars instead of 2. AB

 

On USS Connecticut, Gunnery Officer, during the "Great White Fleet" cruise of 1908-10.

During the time he commanded USS New Mexico, Battle Fleet (West Coast) (1922-24)

 

[aerialbridge]

ComYangPat on one of the "new six", upriver on the Yangtze, China, 1928.

Commandant, 3rd Naval Dist. (Brooklyn, NY) with Italy's Air Marshall, Italo Balbo, 1933.

[Gldank]

Thank you aerialbridge for the nice reply. I will be posting more here in the near future. The last picture above is of Italian Air Marshal Italo Balbo one of Adm Sterling's best friends before WWII. Adm Sterling was also friends with Benito Mussolini (who he received his Italian Order of the Crown from) which would cause him problems during WWII. Balbo was a very dashing and popular with the Italian people before WWII. He was shot down in mid 1940 off Tobruk by an Italian warship by accident (friendly fire) but some say that Balbo was becoming more popular that Mussolini had him killed. Here is an autographed Italian photograph of Balbo to Adm Sterling Jr.

[Gldank]

I also have a couple of pictures, one of Adm Sterling and Balbo at the Stork Club in New York 1930s.

[Gldank]

Another with Adm Sterling, Balbo and the former Mayor O'Brien.

[Gldank]

A close up of Adm Sterling shows his mini medal bar also shows he wore the French Legion of Honor before his Navy Cross.

[Gldank]

Here, he has his top bar reversed. Navy Cross is to the right in top row of ribbons.

[Gldank]

This picture has a more correct placement ribbon group. Looks like his WWI Victory Medal ribbon is a bit tattered.

[aerialbridge]

Those photos in your grouping are amazing--please show more when you have time. The autographed Balbo painting/card with the Savoia-Marchetti SM.55 flying boat from the 1933 flying armada to the US is fantastic-- I'd like to know what he wrote in Italian to Stirling. A bit of trivia, the Marx Bros. "A Night at the Opera" (1935) characters of the 3 foreign aviators with beards, is generally regarded as a lampoon of Italo Balbo's 1933 flight with 24 seaplanes to the US. I've heard that Yates Stirling also had a friendship with J. Edgar Hoover. If they kept a running correspondence, those have to be some interesting letters.

 

"When Balbo's air armada stopped at New York City on the first leg of its return flight to Rome in July 1933, Stirling's admiral's barge met Balbo's plane when it landed in Jamaica Bay off Floyd Bennett Field. Stirling and his Army counter-part, Major General Dennis E. Nolan, commanding general of Second Corps Area, in charge of army units and facilities in New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Puerto Rico, accompanied Balbo's police escort motorcade to the Mayflower Hotel. Stirling had requested an allowance from the Navy Department for the purpose of hosting a dinner for Balbo on his first night in New York. Receiving only $50 from Washington, the socially-connected and popular Stirling was undeterred. "Through the support of men of means who were Navy admirers, I gave to General Balbo and his officers a most elaborate dinner at the Columbian Yacht Club on the Hudson River, now demolished in the development of the Park project. How such a dinner could be given, with over a hundred guests and champagne flowing freely, on the small voucher that I signed, would be no mystery when the guest list is read. Among them were Vincent Astor, Grover Whalen, Ellery W. Stone, E. J. Sadler, and W. S. Farish, all public spirited citizens and some of them members of the Naval Reserve. It has always been difficult for the services to interest Congress in the advantage of appropriating sufficient funds for official entertaining. Balbo enjoyed himself at the dinner, and we were all glad to have such an intimate view of him and his daring men. I regretted that I did not speak Italian or he English, but there was a fellowship developed that evening between the Italian flyers and our other guests, in spite of the handicap of language. I was surprised months later to receive from the great Mussolini the decoration of the Crown of Italy. It was in recognition of the Navy's help to Balbo and his airplanes while in New York.""

Stirling retired on May 1, 1936, when he was transferred to the Navy Retired List, having reached the statutory retirement age of sixty-four. He and Major General Nolan had been born eight days apart and faced mandatory service retirement at the same time. The two retiring two-star flag officers that had frequently appeared together during their respective last commands, were jointly honored with a retirement banquet at the Hotel St. George by naval, military and New York society, led by President Roosevelt's mother, Mrs. James (Sara) Roosevelt, who posed for photos arm-in-arm with both men and declared, "I am very fond of and have the highest regard and admiration for both of the honored guests"

 

[Gldank]

Very interesting. I have a lot in the group to still go through. I have mostly papers and photographs in this group and many unpublished book manuscripts and speeches to read and go through. I am sure this group was a lot larger as I do not have any promotion certificates or military school diplomas. I have reached out to several here on the forum who have his medal bars. I acquired the personal side of his life. I even have a gold filling that came out of his mouth. Yes, I will post more as I go through the collection. The gold filling. Wonder if there is enough DNA to clone the Admiral?

[Gldank]

Another of Mrs. James (Sara) Roosevelt, who posed for photos with both men.

[Gldank]

I also have some of the elder Sterling stuff in this group. It is mixed in so I am nit sure what yet.

[Gldank]

Famous Class of 1860-1861

[Gldank]

A close up of Adm Sterling Sr. I will post the original cadet CVD photo of Sterling senior that was used in this paper next post.

[Gldank]

Here is the original CDV of Admiral Yates Sterling Sr. taken in 1860 as a cadet at Annapolis. The CDV revers has the Bendann Brothers mark. The brothers got into the portrait photograph business in 1859 at 205 W. Baltimore Street. They focused their business on portrait photography. During the Civil War when a person entered the service, they had a photo taken in uniform (just as they do today). Many soldiers had their photos taken to send to their families and as a result, Bendann's business increased. They were one of only a few photographers to photograph both sides of the Civil War.

[Gldank]

Here is an original CDV of Admiral Yates Sterling Jr. as a midshipman. Sterling Jr. graduated from the United States Naval Academy on June, 3, 1892, twenty-second in a class of forty. CDV reverse dated the same year ’92.

[aerialbridge]

Tremendous photos, that you got in that group. Keep them and the paper coming as you go through it, please!.

 

President Theodore Roosevelt (right, standing on turret) addresses the crew of USS Connecticut, flagship of the Great White Fleet, on February 22, 1909, during the final week of his presidency. Photo taken at Hampton Roads, upon the return of the Great White Fleet. LCDR Yates Stirling, Jr. (enlarged) was gunnery officer on Connecticut during the cruise.

 

10 years later, after WWI and Stirling's command of the USS President Lincoln (before it was torpedoed and sunk, the largest US vessel lost in the war) and subsequent command of the troopship USS Von Steuben that Stirling saved by mere feet from being torpedoed and probably sunk, by ordering an unorthodox evasive maneuver, for which he was awarded the Navy Cross and French Legion of Honor, (Officer), Stirling commanded USS Connecticut. Must have been like "old homecoming week" for him.

 

 

[aerialbridge]

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