Shortest and Saltiest

On June 27, 1970, a reporter with a poetic bent described Admiral John S. McCain Jr. as the shortest, saltiest, and most incorrigible admiral in the Navy. That reporter was Col. R.D. Heinl Jr., and he was not exaggerating. McCain, standing barely five-foot-seven, paced the floor of his headquarters in Pearl Harbor with a cigar clenched in his teeth. He commanded the largest forward-deployed force in American history. His authority reached across 500 ships, 7,500 aircraft, and nearly a million servicemen scattered throughout the Pacific from the Golden Gate to the Indian Ocean.

This was no pampered officer buoyed by a family name. Admiral Jack McCain, the first and only four-star son of a four-star father in American military history, had clawed his way to the top with both fists. “Jack’s career,” one contemporary remarked, “reads more like a dime novel than Dale Carnegie.” That novel, if written, would begin in the rebellious alleys of Annapolis, plunge into the depths of the Pacific, and rise again during the Vietnam War as he led all U.S. forces in Southeast Asia. But to tell it properly, we begin not at the height of command, but in the bilges of his early service.

John Sidney McCain Jr. was born on January 17, 1911, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. His father was at sea aboard the armored cruiser USS Washington at the time. His mother, Catherine Vaulx, gave birth during a visit to her sister’s home. Years later, young Jack was delivering newspapers in Washington, D.C., while his father served far from home. His mother, left to raise three children on her own, guided his early years.

At 16, Jack earned a presidential appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. He entered Annapolis in 1927, and very nearly did not graduate. His four years at the academy were a near-mutiny. He racked up demerits for unauthorized liberty, insubordination, and Prohibition-era partying. By his final year, he had so many infractions that he was exiled to the old Spanish-American War hulk Reina Mercedes, a floating brig for misbehaving midshipmen.

He graduated in 1931, ranked 423rd out of 441. He was not a scholar, but he had guts and grit.

Denied flight training due to a heart murmur, Ensign McCain turned to submarines. He trained at New London and served aboard old diesel boats like S-45 and R-13. In 1941, he took command of USS O-8, a training submarine assigned to the Submarine School.

Then came war. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, McCain was promoted and given command of USS Gunnel (SS-253), a brand-new Gato-class submarine. Her diesels were unreliable Hooven-Owens-Rentschler engines. The crew called them “whores” because they failed so often.

 

Gunnel’s first mission was during Operation Torch in North Africa. She guided landing forces with infrared signals, and was strafed twice by friendly aircraft. Her engines failed during the return voyage, forcing McCain to limp home on a tiny auxiliary motor for the last 1,000 miles.

After repairs, McCain took Gunnel to the Pacific. In June 1943, he engaged a Japanese convoy in the East China Sea. He sank Koyo Maru and Tokiwa Maru before enduring a 36-hour depth charge attack. With batteries low and oxygen nearly gone, he surfaced with torpedoes ready. The Japanese ships were steaming away. He survived. He earned the Silver Star for that patrol.

McCain went on to attack Japanese carriers near Tawi Tawi. He later fired on the carrier Zuihō, though the torpedoes missed. He also sank smaller vessels in the Taiwan Strait. For these actions, he received the Bronze Star with Combat “V”.

In October 1944, McCain was given command of USS Dentuda (SS-335), a new Balao-class boat. Her first and only war patrol took place in the summer of 1945. McCain damaged a freighter and sank two Japanese patrol ships, Reiko Maru and Heiwa Maru, in the East China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

After the surrender, he took Dentuda into Tokyo Bay. There, he had one final dinner with his father, Admiral John S. “Slew” McCain. Four days later, the elder McCain died. His son became the Navy’s senior McCain.

Jack McCain continued his career after the war. He commanded Submarine Division 71, served as executive officer aboard Saint Paul during the Korean War, and rotated through the Pentagon, where he worked in Undersea Warfare and Legislative Affairs. He later commanded USS Albany, USS Monrovia, and SubRon 6.

He led Operation Steel Pike, the largest peacetime amphibious exercise in history, and commanded the 1965 invasion of the Dominican Republic. As Chief of Naval Information, he explained the Thresher disaster to the public with honesty and clarity. He worked the halls of Congress with skill, building support for naval programs.

In 1968, McCain became Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Command. He led U.S. forces in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. He supported Nixon’s policy of Vietnamization and played a key role in decisions about Cambodia and Laos.

Throughout his career, he was known as “the little man with the big cigar.” He was blunt, fearless, and deeply loyal to his sailors. One superior said, “There is only one Jack McCain, and thank God for that.”

When Col. Heinl wrote about McCain in 1970, the admiral was already a living legend. He never forgot his early years in diesel boats. He never lost the instincts he developed underwater—quick decision-making, calculated risk, and the ability to think under pressure.

He retired in 1972 and died in 1981. He was buried at Arlington.

Today those who served under him remember him not for the family name, but for his leadership. He was the kind of skipper who surfaced under fire, ready to fight. The kind of man who gave everything he had for the boat, the mission, and the crew.

His story lives on in every quiet patrol and every silent salute.