Paul D. Stroop

Paul D. Stroop
Paul D. Stroop as a Rear Admiral in 1954
Born	(1904-10-30)30 October 1904 Zanesville, Ohio
Died	17 May 1995(1995-05-17) (aged 90) Coronado, California
Allegiance	United States
Service / branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1926–1965
Rank	Vice Admiral
Commands	USS Mackinac (AVP-13) USS Croatan (CVE-25) USS Princeton (CV-37) USS Essex (CV-9) Naval Ordnance Test Station, China Lake Taiwan Patrol Force Bureau of Naval Weapons Naval Air Force, Pacific Fleet
Battles / wars	World War II Korean War
Awards	Legion of Merit (2)

Vice Admiral Paul David Stroop (30 October 1904 – 17 May 1995) was an officer of the United States Navy and a Naval Aviator. He held numerous high-ranking staff positions in aviation from the 1930s onward, including World War II service on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, he held various sea commands. From 1959 to 1962, he oversaw the development of the Navy's aerial weapons, including early guided missiles, as chief of the Bureau of Naval Weapons. During the later 1960s, he commanded Naval air forces in the Pacific.

Biography

Early life and career

Stroop was born in Zanesville, Ohio on October 30, 1904 as the only child of John Hoover Stroop and Margaret Stroop. When Stroop was 12, the family moved to Mobile, Alabama. His father was in ill health and felt a milder climate would be a better place to live.

Stroop went to high school in Mobile and graduated in 1921. He was appointed to the United States Naval Academy by the local congressman from Mobile, John McDuffie. He then did some preparatory work at Werntz's preparatory school in Annapolis, sometimes referred to as "Bobby's War College."

Stroop had good results on his entrance examinations and was to report to the Naval Academy on June 12, 1922. However, two-thirds through the physical examinations, one of the doctors approached him and marked on his slip a giant circle around his height, which showed 63 and a half inches, and wrote "NO" next to it. So he did not get accepted that day.

However, Stroop did not give up. The next day he went directly to the Navy Department and spoke to the Surgeon General, who with a quick physical examination, approved him a waiver. He wanted Stroop to promise to grow if he could, so he promised he would.

He reported back to the Naval Academy on June 15, 1922 and was sworn in.

Paul. D. Stroop in the U.S. Naval Academy yearbook the year he graduated, 1926. Annapolis, Maryland

Stroop excelled in his studies and graduated as rank 20 in his class out of 456 graduates. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1926.

Stroop's dedication in US. Naval Academy yearbook for 1926 shows how highly regarded he was amongst his class.

"Since his entrance he has applied himself diligently and has firmly established himself as one of the more brilliant luminaries in our N.A. constellation. Nor has he confined his efforts to the Academics entirely. He has gained for himself no little fame as a gymnast. He can do all manner of delightfully clever and thrilling stunts on any of the gym apparatus and has featured prominently in more than one Intercollegiate meet. Naturally savvy and hard working, he is a boon to his wooden classmates and has saved more than one man for the Navy by his extra instruction in which is administers impartially to all who care to partake. A true friend and a real man, he'll be hard to beat as shipmate or an officer."

— U.S. Naval Academy, Yearbook 1926, Source Military Yearbooks Collection

Stroop then spent the next two years on board the battleship Arkansas (BB-33). In 1928, he served as a member of U.S. gymnastic team at the Olympic Games in Amsterdam.

Naval aviation assignments

From 1928 to 1929, Stroop received flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, and in 1929 received his wings as a Naval Aviator. His first aviation assignment was with Torpedo Squadron 9, based at NAS Norfolk, Virginia. In 1932 he was transferred to Patrol Squadron 10, also based at Norfolk.

From 1932 to 1934, he undertook postgraduate work at the Naval Academy. After completing his studies, he returned to Fleet assignments. He served from 1934 to 1936 with Bombing Squadron 5, aboard the carrier Ranger (CV-4). From 1936 to 1937, he was Senior Aviator aboard the cruiser Portland (CA-33). In 1937, Stroop gained his first experience in the Naval Aviation material establishment when he was assigned to the Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer). He left BuAer in 1940 to join the staff of Admiral Aubrey Fitch, commander of Patrol Wing 2, based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In 1940, Stroop became Flag Officer and Tactical Officer of Carrier Division 1 at San Diego.

World War II

After the United States entry into World War II, Stroop was transferred to Pearl Harbor. In 1942, he joined the staff of the Carrier Task Force, aboard Lexington (CV-2) at Pearl Harbor. From 1942 to 1943, he served as Planning Officer to the Senior Naval Commander, Air Force, South Pacific.

He next gained his own command, serving from 1943 to 1944 as Commanding Officer of the seaplane tender USS Mackinac (AVP-13). Stroop spent the last months of the war in Washington, D.C., serving from 1944 to 1945 in the Navy Department as Aviation Plans Officer on the Staff of Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King, the Chief of Naval Operations and Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet. In this capacity, Stroop attended the Yalta, Quebec, and Potsdam Conferences, later making a trip around the world to inform commands of outcome of the Yalta Conference.

Post-war activities

In 1945, Stroop left the Navy Department to become Commanding Officer of the escort carrier Croatan (CVE-25). He served as Fleet Aviation Officer (later Chief of Staff, Operations), in the Fifth Fleet, based at Yokosuka, Japan, from 1945 to 1946, and then as Aviation Officer (later Assistant Chief of Staff) Operations to the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet (CINCPACFLT), at Pearl Harbor, in 1946-1948.

From 1948 to 1950, Stroop served as Executive Officer at the Navy's General Line School in Monterey, California, then again took up his own studies as a student at the National War College at Washington, D.C., in 1950-1951.

Captain Paul. D. Stroop being briefed aboard the USS Princeton. Caption on official picture says "briefing is a serious matter as pilot's safety and success of mission depends upon accuracy."

Captain Paul. D. Stroop given final salute by his crew on the USS Princeton before change of command

In 1951, Stroop became Commanding Officer of the carrier Princeton (CV-37) in the Sea of Japan during the Korean War. He was noted for his respected leadership. According his dedication in the ship's 1952 cruise book, his influence fostered high morale and operational success among the crew.

"The Commanding Officer has an immeasurable influence on the morale and spirit of a ship. That the Princeton is a happy ship, and an efficient ship, is proof of the profound admiration and respect which the men feel toward their skipper.

The pilot, launched on a mission, went in confidence that he was supported all the way by the deep concern of a leader who would spare no effort to insure his safe return. The head of each department knew that he could rely on the backing and wise decisions of the Captain. And the erring seaman who came before the mast was sure that he would be treated with patience and justice.

The Loyalty of all hands is a reflection of the qualities of manhood they see in their Commanding Officer."

— U.S. Naval Institute, US, Navy Cruise Books USS Princeton (CVA-37) 1952, Source at U.S. Navy Cruise Books Collection

Then, in 1952, he assumed command of the Essex (CV-9), and was promoted to rear admiral. In 1953, he left the Essex to become Commanding Officer of the Naval Ordnance Test Station, China Lake, California.

From 1953 to 1955, he was Senior Member of the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy Department, Washington. From 1955 to 1957, he served as Deputy Chief at the Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd).

Rear Admiral Paul D. Stroop on Okinawa

From 1957 to 1958, he was Commanding Officer of the Taiwan Patrol Force based at Okinawa, Japan. From 1959 to 1962 he was Chief of the Bureau of Naval Weapons.

Stroop served from 1962 to 1965 as Commanding Officer of the Naval Air Force, Pacific Fleet (COMNAVAIRPAC), and as Commanding Officer, First Fleet, Air PAC, with the rank of vice admiral.

He retired in 1965. After his retirement to the San Diego area, he was a consultant to Ryan Aeronautical and Teledyne Ryan of San Diego until 1992.

Stroop died at the Coronado Hospital in Coronado, California, on 17 May 1995, aged 90.

Personal life

Paul. D. Stroop met his wife Esther Holscher at the Naval Academy in his third year. Their first meeting was a Sunday afternoon after chapel in the yard, where a friend of his had brought her as a date. Stroop had a camera on him and took her picture. Not long after that, he managed to get a date with her and brought her to the academy. They began to see each other regularly and became his date for various hops and events.

Esther came from Baltimore, Maryland. They would visit each other using the electric railway, the WB&A, Washington, Baltimore, and Annapolis. Esther was extremely popular with the members of his class and he used to say she knew more members of his class than he did. She was very popular with cut-in dancing and it was difficult to get more than a few steps in with her at these hops.

Stroop and Esther waited until she completed her schooling to become a teacher and for Stroop to get through his first promotion to get married. This occurred five years later in 1926.

Stroop was married to Esther Holscher Stroop from 1926 until her death in 1982. He was survived by his second wife, Kay Roeder Stroop; his two sons, two daughters, three stepdaughters, a stepson, 13 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren. Stroop is buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.

References

• Grossnick, Roy et al. "Part 8: The New Navy 1954-1959." United States Naval Aviation 1910-1995. 4th edition. Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997. Online. Naval Historical Center. Viewed 24 February 2006. http://www.history.navy.mil/avh-1910/PART08.PDF Archived 2011-05-07 at the Wayback Machine
• "Stroop, Paul D., VADM, USN, 1904-1995". in A GUIDE TO ARCHIVES, MANUSCRIPTS AND ORAL HISTORIES IN THE NAVAL HISTORICAL COLLECTION. Naval War College, Newport, R.I. 2001. Compiled by Evelyn M. Cherpak, Ph.D. Online. 2001. Naval War College. Viewed 24 February 2006. https://web.archive.org/web/20051230173634/http://www.nwc.navy.mil/library/3Publications/NWCLibraryPublications/NavHistCollPubs/NHC%20Guide.doc [Source of biographical data]
• Kitchen, Etta-Belle; D Stroop, Paul (August 3, 1969). The Reminiscences of Vice Adm. Paul D. Stroop, USN (Ret.): 1904-1995. Annapolis Maryland: U.S. Naval Institute. p. 7. ISBN 1682699706. Retrieved June 4, 2025.

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Naval History and Heritage Command. It also contains public-domain information collected from the Naval War College, an institution of the United States government.

External links

• China Lake Military Leadership - from the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake