Thomas H. Robbins, Jr.

Thomas Hinckley Robbins Jr. (11 May 1900 – 12 December 1972) was a rear admiral of the United States Navy. A naval aviator, his career included command of an aircraft carrier during World War II, service as a key advisor to the United States Secretary of the Navy, and a tour as President of the Naval War College. Robbins ancestors included William Bradford (1590-1657), the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and Thomas Hinckley (1618-1706), a governor of Plymouth Colony. His great-great-grandfather was Fisher Ames (1758-1808), a Massachusetts politician who served in the United States House of Representatives. Naval career Robbins was born on 11 May 1900 in Paris, France, the son of Thomas Hinckley Robbins Sr. (9 April 1877 – 14 November 1954), and the former Alice Ames (23 September 1873 – 23 October 1951). He entered the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, as a member of the Class of 1920, but his curriculum was accelerated due to the entry of the United States into World War I on 6 April 1917, and he graduated in 1919.