| Sources |
- [S176] Leming: Rock Smith.
- [S988] Newsday, Rhoda Amon; Leroy Alexanderson, captain of last superliner; Obituary; 5 March 2004.
Leroy Alexanderson, captain of last superliner
Published: March 5, 2004 7:00 PM
By RHODA AMON. STAFF WRITER
As the last captain of America's last superliner, the SS
United States, Commodore Leroy J. Alexanderson shared the captain's table with
world-famous passengers: Presidents Harry S. Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and John
F. Kennedy, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, movie stars John Wayne and Glen
Ford.
But he retained "a tremendous ability to relate to people from all walks of
life," said his son, John Alexanderson, of Concord, Mass. The elder
Alexanderson, former Garden City resident and Navy commander in World War II,
died Feb. 28 in Hampton, Va., at 93.
"He had none of the bluster of some sea captains," said ship historian
Frank O. Braynard of Sea Cliff, a friend for 40 years. "He was modest and
friendly to everyone, a man of remarkable kindness and stability. I thought he
would go on forever," added Braynard, author of a book about the ship's
history, republished last year on the 50th anniversary of the ship's launching
as "SS United States, Fastest Ship in the World."
Though the ship held the world speed record for a trans-Atlantic crossing
of fewer than 3 1/2 days, the great liner was retired in 1969, done in by
faster jet travel. Alexanderson told a reporter that he was sure "we'll return
to the seas." He saw to it that the laid-up ship was zealously preserved by the
government in the next 10 years.
"The ship was his life," said John Alexanderson. "It hurt him to see his
ship rusting at a Philadelphia pier, but he never gave up hope."
He was heartened last year when Norwegian Cruise Lines bought the vessel to
restore it as a cruise ship, said Robert Hudson Westover, chairman of the SS
United States Foundation, which was formed to preserve the ship.
Alexanderson retired from the sea in 1976 as captain of a container ship
because of his wife's declining health. After Dorothea Ranken Alexanderson died
in 1979, he left Garden City, where the couple had lived since 1947. He made
his home in Hampton, Va., near where the SS United States then lay at anchor.
He remarried in 1983 to Elizabeth Meade Dougherty.
Over the years, he would return to Long Island to speak at the U.S.
Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point where his friend, Rear Adm. Paul
Krinsky, of Waterford, Maine, was former superintendent. "His passing is the
end of an era," Krinsky said.
Alexanderson was born to Swedish immigrant parents in Brooklyn in 1910. He
graduated from Brooklyn's James Madison High School in 1928 and from the New
York Merchant Marine Academy at Fort Schuyler in the Bronx, now SUNY Maritime
College, in 1930. Commissioned in both the Naval Reserve and the Maritime
Service, he served on merchant ships until 1938 when, with war approaching, he
volunteered for active Navy duty.
Serving in both the North Atlantic and Pacific campaigns, he was the first
skipper of the attack transport USS Gage, which landed Marines on Okinawa.
Although the Navy suffered heavy losses, Alexanderson brought the Gage through
the campaign without the loss of a single crewman. In 1947, he returned to the
United States Lines, becoming captain of the SS America in 1955 and of the
line's flagship, United States, in 1964. He was named Commodore of the whole
fleet in 1966. He also was also a retired rear admiral in the Naval Reserve.
On his last trip north from Virginia, his daughter-in-law, the former Nancy
Baier of Bellport, regaled him with an all-Swedish dinner accompanied by
Swedish music. "He always loved Sweden," she said.
Besides his second wife and his son, he is survived by daughters Barbara
Helmus of Garden City and Linda Butler of Charlottesville, Va.; a stepdaughter,
Linda Smith, of Summit, N.J.; a stepson, William Dougherty, of Hampton; a
brother, Howard, of Utica, N.Y.; nine grandchildren and nine
great-grandchildren.
He was buried with military honors Wednesday in Parklawn Memorial Park in
Hampton, Va. Contributions in his memory can be made to the Maritime Industry
Museum at SUNY Maritime College.
- [S542] New York Times, 4 Mar 2004.
L. J. Alexanderson, 93, Liner’s Last Captain, Dies
By WOLFGANG SAXON Published: March 4, 2004
Commodore Leroy J. Alexanderson, the last master of the S.S. United States, the fastest Atlantic liner, died on Sunday in Hampton, Va., near the vessel's birthplace, Newport News. He was 93.
His death was announced by his son, John Alexanderson of Concord, Mass.
Commodore Alexanderson skippered the United States for the last 5 of its 17 years in service. Decommissioned in 1969, the towering hulk is now moored in Philadelphia, still awaiting its fate.
It was bought last year by Norwegian Cruise Lines, which said it planned to refit it as a United States-registered cruise liner. Robert Hudson Westover, chairman of the S.S. United States Foundation, which works to celebrate the ship as a seagoing monument, said this week that he had received no further word from the company.
Commodore Alexanderson spent more than 40 years at sea in war and peace. After the United States, flagship of United States Lines, foundered in the jet age, he remained in overall charge of the line's fleet.
In 1976 he came ashore to retire because of his wife's declining health. His wife, Dorothea Ranken Alexanderson, died three years later after 45 years of marriage.
In 1983, he married Elizabeth Meade Dougherty, who survives him, along with his son, John; two daughters, Barbara Helmus of Garden City, N.Y., and Linda Butler of Charlottesville, Va.; a stepdaughter, Linda D. Smith of Summit, N.J.; a stepson, William J. Dougherty of Hampton; a brother, Howard, of Utica, N.Y.; nine grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
Leroy John Alexanderson was born to Swedish immigrant parents in Brooklyn. In 1930, he graduated from the New York Merchant Marine Academy at Fort Schuyler in the Bronx, now the S.U.N.Y. Maritime College, and was commissioned in both the Naval Reserve and the Maritime Service.
He shipped out on freighters and in 1934 transferred to United States Lines. With war approaching, he volunteered for destroyer escort duty and got his first command, an attack transport, the Gage. The Gage landed Marine elements on Okinawa and saw heavy action. Later, it carried thousands of homebound soldiers through the Suez Canal.
Returning to the Merchant Marine Service at United States Lines, he served on various ships before becoming executive officer and then, in 1955, captain of the S.S. America.
Construction of the United States was heavily underwritten by the federal government not only to enhance the country's prestige but also to bolster its military readiness. At 51,988 tons and 990 feet long, it could carry 1,650 passengers. But it was also outfitted as a naval auxiliary that could be converted into a military transport, and its 241,000-horsepower steam engines could move a fully equipped division halfway around the world, nonstop, without refueling.
On its maiden voyage in 1952 it captured the Atlantic Blue Riband speed trophy for the fastest crossing of that ocean: 3 days, 10 hours and 42 minutes. The ship averaged 35.59 knots, or 40.96 land miles, an hour. Its top speed of 43 knots, just shy of 50 miles an hour, was an official secret until after it was decommissioned.
In 1966, the United States Lines made Mr. Alexanderson its fleet commodore, even then a nearly extinct rank. He was put in overall command of the line's ships — 52 at that time — and was entitled to run the commodore's silk ensign up the halyard to the radar mast of any of the line's ships he happened to be on.
After leaving the United States, he commanded the container ship American Legion for seven years. When he retired, he was one of the last active merchant mariners of fleet rank in the country; he also retired as a two-star rear admiral of the Naval Reserve.
- [S492] Wikipedia.org, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leroy_J._Alexanderson.
- [S903] 1920 Census, Census Place: Bronx Assembly District 7, Bronx, New York; Roll: T625_1140; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 374; Image: 169..
- [S990] Yearbooks, James Madison High School, Brooklyn, 1928.
- [S129] 1930 Census, Census Place: Brooklyn, Kings, New York; Roll: 1497; Page: 16A; Enumeration District: 1289; Image: 70.0; FHL microfilm: 2341232..
- [S127] Advance, Long Island, 7 July 1960, p. 11.
Captain and Mrs. Leroy J. Alexanderson of Garden City and their daughter, Linda, have opened their home on South Country Road. A frequent visitor is son, John, now a midshipman on the destroyer, "Abbott."
John Alexanderson, son of Captain and Mrs. Leroy J. Alexanderson of Garden City and Brookhaven, who recently completed his third year on the dean's list at Renssealaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, lunched with his father Tuesday aboard the destroyer Abbott. John is a midshipman aboard the Abbott, now tied up at pier 86, where the SS United States docked this week. John's father is executive officer and relieving Captain in command of the United Styates. He is also a rear admiral in the United States Naval Reserve, and invited to take lunch aboard the Abbott with his son. John has some tradition behind him in that his mother's cousin, the late Albert B. Randall, was one of the first rear admirals of the Merchant Marine, under whom John's father sailed a good many years ago aboard the S.S. Manhattan.
- [S127] Advance, Long Island, 15 Sep 1955, p. 10.
Capt. Anderson Commands Carrier
Captain Leroy Alexanderson of Brookhaven and Garden City was recently given a leave of absence from the United States lines in order to take command of the new super-carrier Forrestal on her builders trial runs.
The Forrestal, displacing 60,000 tons and the world's largest warship, was built by Newport News Shipbuilding company.
On her trials last week at sea, the new ship burned out a bearing on two of her four propellor shafts, and put back to her yard for repairs. Capt. Alexanderson, who holds his rank in the Naval Reserve as well as the Merchant service, was recently assigned as executive officer of the S.S. United States, flagship of the United States lines.
- [S962] 1940 Census, Census Place: San Diego, San Diego, California; Roll: T627_447; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 62-8..
- [S876] Email: Ron Kinsella, Commodore Leroy J. Alexanderson of the SS United States; email; 13 June 2012; John Deitz.
They used to summer here in the late 50s and 60s. His first wife....Ranken is buried in Brookhaven on the right going in under Alexanderson
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