United States Navy Admiral. Richmond Turner graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1908 and served in several ships over the next four years. In 1913, he served on a destroyer, then was assigned to battleships during 1916–19. From 1919 to 1922, he was an ordnance and gunnery officer on several ships, and then commanding officer of a destroyer. He became commanding officer of a seaplane tender, then was executive officer of the aircraft carrier Saratoga in 1933–34. He attended the Naval War College and served from 1935–38 as head of the Strategy faculty. His last single ship command was the heavy cruiser Astoria, on a diplomatic mission to Japan in 1939. He was Director of War Plans in Washington, D.C., in 1940–41 and was promoted to rear admiral in January 1941. On 25 November 1941, he reported to his Navy superiors that there was a high likelihood of conflict with Japanese military forces. The report, and another which followed, were not accepted as valid to the degree of threat that they reported, and he did not persist in efforts to convince his superior officers of the danger. These events have been interpreted by some to blame him in part for the lack of preparedness for the subsequent attack on Pearl Harbor; other more senior Navy and Army officers were punished by a military inquiry, but he was not. In December 1941, he was appointed assistant chief of staff to the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet. He helped plan and execute amphibious operations as a commander for the assault on Guadalcanal, the Russell Islands, on New Georgia, on Tarawa and Makin, and on the Marshall Islands. He was promoted to Vice Admiral on March 7, 1944, after which he was commander for the assaults on Tinian, Guam and Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. On May 24, 1945 he was promoted to full Admiral. After World War II, he served on the Navy Department's General Board and was U.S. Naval Representative on the United Nations Military Staff Committee. He retired from active duty in July 1947.