Ship's Crew
Hugh Albert Moore
Rank(s): Commander
Dates of Service: 3/27/1969 - 10/30/1970
Birth Date: 7/1/1921
Death Date: 9/11/2009
Hugh Moore was born in Chocowinity, North Carolina on July 1, 1921. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy on September 26, 1940 and, after initial training, was ordered to the submarine tender Pelias (AS-14). After shakedown training off New England, the ship was ordered to Pearl Harbor, and was there on December 7, 1941 during the attack during World War II. Ignored by the Japanese for higher priority targets, Pelias‘s guns nonetheless downed one of the attacking torpedo planes and damaged a second. In May 1942, Moore was ordered to the submarine Trout (SS-202) . The submarine was one of a dozen stationed around Midway Island in advance of the expected Japanese attack. Although never engaged with the enemy forces, the submarine managed to retrieve two Japanese aviators from a floating hatch cover and return them to Pearl Harbor. Moore later served in the attack transport Highlands (APA-119). The ship participated in the assaults on Iwo Jima, Leyte, and Okinawa, and arrived in Tokyo Bay on the day the Japanese signed the formal surrender on board USS Missouri. It is not known when he became an officer, but by 1958 Moore was assistant operations officer of the Fleet Training Group in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. From 1960 to 1963, he was on the staff of the Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island, and later commanded the fleet tug Luiseno (ATF-156) in the Atlantic Fleet. From 1967 to 1968, he was in Vietnam at Chu Lai and Danang.
Moore took command of Constitution on March 27, 1969, the first officer of his seniority in command since 1934. Rear Admiral Joseph C. Wyile, Jr., commandant of the First Naval District, felt the change to a commander was necessary to ensure the ship’s welfare, and Washington agreed. During Moore’s tour the U.S. Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey scoured the ship and determined she needed a $4.2 million restoration. Moore left Constitution on October 30, 1970 while planning for the project was getting underway.
Moore served in the navy a short while longer after leaving Constitution, then retired to Rhode Island, where he became a fifth grade mathematics teacher. He died in Middletown, Rhode Island on September 11, 2009. Moore was awarded the Bronze Star with Combat Valor for his service in Vietnam. In addition, he had earned two Presidential Unit Citations, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 15 battle stars, and a number of other medals and pins.
