Howard L. Vickery
| Howard Leroy Vickery | |
|---|---|
Howard L. Vickery around 1943
|
|
| Born |
April 20, 1892 Bellevue, Ohio |
| Died | March 21, 1946 (aged 53) Palm Springs, California |
| Place of burial | Arlington National Cemetery |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America
|
| Service/branch |
 United States Navy
|
| Years of service | 1915–1945 |
| Rank |
 Vice admiral
|
| Commands held |
|
| Battles/wars |
World War I World War II |
| Awards | Distinguished Service Medal |
Howard Leroy Vickery (April 20, 1892 – March 21, 1946) was a U.S. naval officer and renowned merchant shipbuilder during World War II.
Vickery was born in Bellevue, Ohio to Willis Vickery and Anna Louise Schneider. He went to public schools and later attended East High School in Cleveland. He took the entrance examination for the United States Naval Academy in 1910 but failed. He made another attempt the following year and passed. In 1915 he took a B. S. degree from Annapolis and was appointed an ensign in the United States Navy. Though Vickery had hoped to go to Asia, he was instead assigned to Boston. There he met Marguerite Blanchard, whom he married in 1917. Shortly prior to his marriage was the start of World War I, and a few days after the wedding he left for sea on a ship to France to guard the first convoy there. He had earned two stripes on his sleeve by the end of the war, as well as being able to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1921 he received an M. Sc. degree from there. By the next year he was made a supervisor of submarine construction for the United States Navy superintendent constructor's office in San Francisco. Alongside this, from 1921 to 1925 he acted as the Boston Navy Yard's docking and outside superintendent.
Vickery left these positions in 1925 when he was sent to work as a treaty engineer for the Haitian Government. He stayed in Haiti for the next three years before returning to the United States. He stayed in Washington, D.C. as a member of the Bureau of Construction and Repair, but the next year in 1929, a requested to be transferred to Panama. There he was made technical adviser on shipping to the Governor General of the Philippines. During this time he left for Germany to see the construction of the Philippine ships. There he was able to witness the rebuilding of the German navy. He returned to the Bureau of Construction and Repair in 1934, this time as head of the secret War Plans Section of the Design Branch. He also took graduate courses at the Army Industrial College the same year. One of Vickery's first jobs was the investigation of the SS Morro Castle disaster. The report that was presented after a year of work by him and his subordinates made dramatic reforms to shipbuilding by calling for many new safety features in ships.
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