Reminiscences of Adm. Harry D. Train II, USN (Ret.)

Because he grew up in a Navy family, Train was imbued from childhood with the goal of attending the Naval Academy. His career as a midshipman included playing center on the football team that played to a notable tie against West Point in 1948. After graduation in 1949, Train served as a junior officer in the destroyer USS Harold J. Ellison (DD-864) in the Atlantic and Mediterranean and in the destroyer USS Harry E. Hubbard (DD-748), which was reactivated for Korean War service. After submarine school in 1951, Train served in the submarine USS Wahoo (SS-565), whose skippers, Dennis Wilkinson and Bill Anderson, both later commanded the USS Nautilus (SSN-571). After duty in 1957-58 on the Joint Staff, Train was executive officer of the submarine USS Entemedor (SS-340) and submarine placement officer in the Bureau of Naval Personnel. In 1962-64, after resisting Admiral Hyman G. Rickover's efforts to draft him into the nuclear program, he was commanding officer of the diesel submarine USS Barbel (SS-580). After that he was administrative aide to Secretary of the Navy Paul Nitze and developed a close working relationship with Nitze's EA, Elmo Zumwalt. Subsequently, Train commanded the guided missile destroyer USS Conyngham (DDG-17) in the Med, served briefly on the Second Fleet staff, and then was executive assistant to Admiral Thomas Moorer during Moorer's duty as CNO and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As a flag officer, Train commanded Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla Eight, headed the systems analysis division of OpNav, and was involved in Incidents at Sea negotiations with the Soviet Union. After service in 1974-76 as director of the Joint Staff, he spent two years as Commander Sixth Fleet, and then served from 1978 to 1982 as Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic; Commander in Chief, Atlantic Command; and Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. Admiral Train's oral history also includes his analysis of the 1982 Falklands War and discussion of his activities following retirement from the Navy, from hiking the Appalachian Trail to running his own defense consulting firm to serving in a variety of nonprofit pursuits.

Paul Stillwell is an independent historian and retired naval officer. He worked for thirty years at the U.S. Naval Institute as an oral historian and editor of Naval History magazine. He is the author or editor of fourteen books, including four on battleships and an award-winning volume on the Navy’s first African American officers, The Golden Thirteen. His 2021 book Battleship Commander: The Life of Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee Jr. also received acclaim. He lives in Arnold, Maryland.