| Abstract |
Captain Kelley, a Navy junior born in D.C., grew up in a Navy family primarily in California. After commenting briefly on his youth and US Naval Academy experiences, he describes his experiences in the USS WEST VIRIGINIA during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He comments on the aftermath of the attack, the raising of the WEST VIRIGNIA and the OKLAHOMA, and his service in the USS GANSEVOORT and FRAZIER. He details seven Pacific engagements, including attacks on Kwajalein and Gaudalcanal. Captain Kelley entered the postgraduate course at MIT in 1944 and from there was assigned to work with Admiral Rickover in the nuclear submarine program. He discusses Admiral Rickover and development and testing of the NAUTILUS and SEA WOLF nuclear submarines and other aspects of his career until his resignation from the Navy in 1956 to enter the aerospace industry. |
| General note | Interviewer: Donald R. Lennon. Interview date: April 26, 2001. |
| Access restriction | No access restrictions. |
| Cite as |
Archie P. Kelley Oral History Interview (#OH0197), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA. |
| Terms of use | Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law. |
| Acquisitions source |
Joyner- Gift of Archie P. Kelley. |
| Biographical note | Archie P. Kelley (b. 1918) was born in Washington, D.C. His father, Frank H. Kelley, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, Class of 1910. Kelley lived up and down the West Coast with his father's various duty assignments. Following his father's path, he attended the Academy and graduated in the Class of 1941. His career began with service aboard the battleship USS WEST VIRGINIA, which he was on during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941). After the attack, he served temporary duties in the War Plans Office at Pearl and as navigational officer aboard the WEST VIRGINIA. Kelley's next major assignment was as gunnery officer aboard the destroyer USS GANSEVOORT. Before reporting to duty he married his wife, Rosemary, in Las Vegas. The GANSEVOORT served in four combat actions primarily in support of amphibious landings, the first at Tarawa, in the South Pacific with Admiral Halsey's Task Force 38. Two years later, after being in the Aleutians, the ship returned to Hawaii. Kelley then became executive officer of the USS FRAZIER where he served another year and was involved in support of two more amphibious landings, one at Kwajalein. He was ordered to postgraduate school in naval architecture at MIT, where he was introduced to the study of nuclear physics. This resulted in his assignment to an experimental group investigating ways to decontaminate radioactive ships used in the atomic tests at Bikini. His experience earned him a position serving under Hyman G. Rickover beginning in 1948. Under Rickover, Kelley worked with GE contractors to develop the second nuclear propelled submarine, the USS SEAWOLF, and train its first crew. |
