Royal R. Ingersoll II

Royal Rodney Ingersoll II
Royal Rodney Ingersoll II
Born	17 December 1913; Manila, The Philippines
Died	6 June 1942 (aged 29); at sea, while serving in USS Hornet (CV - 8) in the vicinity of Midway Atoll
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1934 – 1942
Rank	Lieutenant
Unit	USS Hornet (CV - 8)
Battles/wars	Battle of Midway

Last updated February 19, 2019

Royal Rodney Ingersoll II (17 December 1913 – 6 June 1942) was an American junior naval officer, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy (1934), who was killed in battle early during the War in the Pacific.

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 18 megadiverse countries.

Ingersoll was born in Manila, The Philippines, and he was the son of Admiral Royal E. Ingersoll, and the grandson of Rear Admiral Royal R. Ingersoll. After graduating from the United States Naval Academy in 1934, Ingersoll served on the battleship USS California (BB - 44), on the destroyer USS Cassin (DD-372), and other warships during 1934 - 41, and he reported on board the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) during her fitting-out (pre-commissioning) period in 1941. Lieutenant Ingersoll served on the Hornet during the critical early months of the War in the Pacific, including on the famous Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in April 1942, the Hornet's maiden combat voyage.

Manila Capital / Highly Urbanized City in National Capital Region, Philippines

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Royal Eason Ingersoll was a United States Navy four-star admiral who served as Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet (CINCLANT) from January 1, 1942 to late 1944; Commander, Western Sea Frontier from late 1944 to 1946; and Deputy Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet/Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (DCOMINCH/DCNO) from late 1944 to late 1945.

Ingersoll served on board the USS Hornet during the Battle of Midway from 4 June to 6 June 1942, in which the portion of the U.S. Navy fleet based in Hawaii decisively defeated the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during its attack on Midway Island, sinking four IJN Japanese aircraft carriers.

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Lt. Ingersoll was killed at his battle station by machine gun fire from a crippled fighter plane (an F4F Wildcat) from the USS Yorktown (CV-5) during its emergency landing on board the Hornet. Its wounded pilot was either unable to, or failed to, cut off its guns.

Machine gun fully automatic mounted or portable firearm

A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm designed to fire rifle cartridges in rapid succession from an ammunition belt or magazine for the purpose of suppressive fire. Not all fully automatic firearms are machine guns. Submachine guns, rifles, assault rifles, battle rifles, shotguns, pistols or cannons may be capable of fully automatic fire, but are not designed for sustained fire. As a class of military rapid-fire guns, machine guns are fully automatic weapons designed to be used as support weapons and generally used when attached to a mount- or fired from the ground on a bipod or tripod. Many machine guns also use belt feeding and open bolt operation, features not normally found on rifles.

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Four enlisted men on board the Hornet were also killed, and 20 more sailors were wounded in this accident.^[1]

In 1942, the destroyer USS Ingersoll (DD-652) was named in honor of both Rear Admiral Royal R. Ingersoll and Lt. Royal R. Ingersoll II.^[2]

USS Ingersoll (DD-652) was a Fletcher class destroyer in the United States Navy, serving from 28 June 1942 through 19 May 1974. The Ingersoll was named for Admiral Royal Ingersoll, former Chief of Staff of the Atlantic Fleet in the early 20th century and his grandson Lieutenant Royal R. Ingersoll II who was killed in action during the Battle of Midway. Ingersoll saw action mainly in the Pacific Theatre of Operations during World War II, in support of the Korean War and in the Vietnam War.

Lt. Ingersoll's father, Admiral Royal E. Ingersoll, became the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Navy's Atlantic Fleet on December 30, 1941.

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References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entry can be found here.

↑ "Battle of Midway: Online Action Reports: Commanding Officer, USS Hornet". Naval Historical Center. 9 January 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-02.
↑ "Ingersoll (entry in Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships)". Naval Historical Center . Retrieved 2008-08-20.

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[1] "Battle of Midway: Online Action Reports: Commanding Officer, USS Hornet". Naval Historical Center. 9 January 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-02.

[2] "Ingersoll (entry in Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships)". Naval Historical Center . Retrieved 2008-08-20.

Royal Rodney Ingersoll II

Born	(1913-12-17)17 December 1913 Manila, The Philippines
Died	6 June 1942(1942-06-06) (aged 29) at sea, while serving in USS Hornet (CV - 8) in the vicinity of Midway Atoll
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1934 – 1942
Rank	Lieutenant
Unit	USS Hornet (CV - 8)
Battles/wars	Battle of Midway

Royal R. Ingersoll II

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References