OBITUARIES / PASSINGS / James F. Calvert
James F. Calvert, 88, a retired Navy vice admiral who commanded the nuclear-powered submarine Skate, the first vessel to surface at the North Pole, died of a heart ailment June 3 at his home in Bryn Mawr, Pa.
The 1959 polar trip was made to test how well a submarine could operate in the Arctic Ocean. Calvert wrote about the mission in the 1960 book “Surface at the Pole.”
Calvert later served as superintendent of the Naval Academy from 1968 to 1972. In that capacity, he implemented the academic majors program that broadened the Annapolis, Md., academy’s curriculum beyond engineering to include more than 20 other majors, including political science. He also expanded the school’s civilian faculty.
After serving at the academy, he became commander of the First Fleet in the Pacific. He retired from the military in 1973.
He was born in Cleveland on Sept. 8, 1920. He attended Oberlin College for two years before receiving an appointment to Annapolis, from which he graduated in 1942. He immediately went to submarine school and served on the Jack, credited with sinking 15 enemy ships during World War II.
He later became executive officer of the submarine Haddo and was present in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrendered, ending the war.
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