Cassin Young

Medal of Honor Hero of Pearl Harbor and Guadalcanal

Blown into the burning waters of Pearl Harbor by the explosion of USS Arizona, Commander Cassin Young did something few men would have attempted. He swam back toward the inferno, climbed aboard his damaged ship, rallied his crew, and refused to surrender USS Vestal to the flames. Less than a year later, now a captain commanding the heavy cruiser USS San Francisco, Young would again face a superior Japanese force at point-blank range. This time, he would not survive. His extraordinary courage at Pearl Harbor and Guadalcanal made Captain Cassin Young one of the most remarkable United States Navy officers of the Second World War.

Cassin Young was born in Washington, D.C., on March 6, 1894. He entered the United States Naval Academy and graduated on June 3, 1916, beginning a naval career that would span two world wars. His early service included duty aboard the battleship USS Connecticut during the First World War, followed by extensive submarine service. Young commanded the submarines USS R-23 and USS R-2, later served in Naval Communications, worked with the staff of Commander Submarine Divisions, Battle Fleet, and returned to the Naval Academy for duty. During the 1930s he served aboard USS New York, commanded the destroyer USS Evans, served in the Eleventh Naval District, commanded Submarine Division Seven, and performed duty at the Submarine Base at New London, Connecticut.

By December 1941, Young was commanding the repair ship USS Vestal at Pearl Harbor. On the morning of December 7, Vestal was moored alongside USS Arizona when Japanese aircraft attacked the Pacific Fleet. Young immediately went into action, proceeding to the bridge and personally taking charge of a 3-inch antiaircraft gun. Then Arizona's forward magazine exploded. The blast threw Young overboard into water surrounded by burning oil and wreckage. Instead of seeking safety, he swam back to Vestal. His Medal of Honor citation praised his "outstanding heroism and utter disregard of his own safety" as he returned to command a ship that was burning, listing, and taking water under continuing Japanese bombing and strafing.

What followed became the defining image of Cassin Young's life. With USS Arizona an enormous blazing wreck beside him and Vestal herself badly damaged, Young restored control aboard the repair ship and got her away from the inferno. After determining that she could not safely remain afloat, he deliberately beached Vestal, preserving the ship so that she could later be salvaged and returned to service. For his conduct at Pearl Harbor, Young received the Medal of Honor. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz presented the decoration to him at Pearl Harbor on April 18, 1942.

Pearl Harbor could easily have become the final chapter of his combat career. Instead, it became the beginning of an even more dangerous one. Young was promoted to captain in February 1942 and subsequently assumed command of the heavy cruiser USS San Francisco (CA-38). The war had moved into the Solomon Islands, where control of Guadalcanal had become critical to both the United States and Japan. By November, American and Japanese naval forces were preparing for one of the most violent surface battles of the Pacific War.

During the night of November 12 to 13, 1942, USS San Francisco entered the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal as part of an American force confronting a more powerful Japanese formation near Savo Island. The engagement became a chaotic close-range gun battle fought in darkness. Japanese battleship Hiei and other enemy warships traded devastating fire with the American formation at distances that were extraordinarily short for major surface combat. Young remained in command of San Francisco as the cruiser took repeated hits and continued fighting. The American force suffered terrible losses, but it prevented the Japanese bombardment force from accomplishing its intended mission against Guadalcanal. Naval History and Heritage Command has described the battle as pivotal in preventing Japanese reinforcement and helping turn the Guadalcanal campaign in favor of the United States.

Young was killed during that battle on November 13, 1942, while USS San Francisco was closely engaging Hiei. Rear Admiral Daniel J. Callaghan and many other officers and sailors aboard the cruiser were also killed. Young was only 48 years old.

For his final battle, Captain Cassin Young was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. His surviving award certificate identifies his actions of November 12 and 13 during the Battle of Guadalcanal, and the Navy's contemporary Bureau of Information Bulletin credited him with "extraordinary heroism" as his force fought a superior enemy at close quarters and materially contributed to the American victory. The fuller citation recognized Young's fighting spirit, seamanship, devotion to duty, and his contribution to preventing the Japanese force from accomplishing its mission. It concluded by recording that he had given his life for his country.

Young also received the Purple Heart posthumously for his death in action. USS San Francisco received the Presidential Unit Citation for her performance in the bitter surface actions of October and November 1942, including the battle in which Young was killed. Official Navy records confirm the cruiser received the citation for her participation in the November 13 action, and Young's presence as commanding officer made him a participant in that cited combat service. His wider naval service, represented in his reconstructed ribbon rack, stretched from First World War duty through Pearl Harbor and the campaigns of the Pacific, creating a military record that connected two generations of American naval warfare.

Yet Cassin Young's legacy is larger than any list of awards. At Pearl Harbor, his ship appeared doomed and he refused to abandon it. At Guadalcanal, he commanded a battered cruiser into one of the most savage naval engagements of the Pacific War. In both moments, Young's leadership was tested not when circumstances were favorable, but when survival itself was in doubt.

The United States Navy ensured that his name would continue to go to sea. The Fletcher-class destroyer USS Cassin Young (DD-793) was named in his honor, launched in September 1943 and commissioned later that year. The destroyer went on to fight across the Pacific during World War II, surviving kamikaze attacks and earning its own distinguished combat record. Today, USS Cassin Young survives as a historic ship at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston, preserving the name of the officer whose courage became inseparable from the stories of Pearl Harbor and Guadalcanal.

Captain Cassin Young's story can be captured in two extraordinary moments. On December 7, 1941, an explosion threw him off his ship, and he swam back to save her. On November 13, 1942, facing a superior enemy in the darkness off Guadalcanal, he remained with his ship and fought until he was killed. Between those moments stands the measure of the man: a professional naval officer whose Medal of Honor and Navy Cross were earned in two of the most consequential battles of the Pacific War, and whose example of courage, command, and devotion to duty continues to define his place in United States naval history.