Raymond D. Tarbuck
Lieutenant

USN
USS West Virginia
1934

Lt. Raymond D. Tarbuck was at the conn of USS West Virginia for the first time on June 16, 1934. The ship was leading the column of battleships out of the Hudson River when a whale got caught on the bow. He didn't want to be responsible for dropping the ship out of the column to let the whale off the bow. It caused quite a stir when hundreds of crew members tried to crowd the bow to get a look at the whale. Being a greenhorn at the conn, he called the Exec, Commander John F. Shafroth, for some help, it erupted into an all out spectacle when Commander Shafroth made an announcement for the ship's photographer to report to the bow to photograph the whale. Ultimately, they backed down, pulled out of line and dropped off the whale.

Later in his career he commanded USS Macdonough (DD-351) and USS Iowa (BB-61). He was involved in the planning of the invasion of the Philippines in 1944. He retired a Rear Admiral.


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