Arent S. Crowninshield

Arent Schuyler Crowninshield (March 14, 1843–1908) was an admiral of the United States Navy. He saw combat during the Civil War, and after the war held high commands both afloat and ashore.

Biography

Born in New York, he was the grandson of Jacob Crowninshield (appointed Navy secretary under Jefferson but who died before taking up the office), and grandnephew of George Crowninshield Jr. (adventuring owner of Cleopatra's Barge, first yacht to cross the Atlantic) and Benjamin Williams Crowninshield, United States Secretary of the Navy. Some sources give his first name as Alton. Arent graduated from the United States Naval Academy on May 28, 1863 and immediately went into action in the American Civil War, participating in the assault on Fort Fisher while serving on the steam sloop Ticonderoga.

After the war, he rose steadily through the ranks, becoming lieutenant in 1866, commander in 1880, where he was from 1887 to 1891 commander of the school ship St. Mary's. Promoted captain on July 21, 1894, he took command of the new battleship Maine at her commissioning in 1895, leaving in 1897 to become chief of the Bureau of Navigation. During the Spanish-American War, Crowninshield was the commanding officer of the Battleship U.S.S. Illinois.