William Pigott Cronan (March 6, 1879 – March 18, 1929) was a United States Navy captain who served as the 19th Naval Governor of Guam. During his tenure in the Navy, he became decorated, commanded a number of ships, and came to be known as "the most popular man in the Navy". He participated in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish–American War. In 1903, he gained some attention for his participation in the rescue of a Venezuelan fisherman off the coast of La Guaira under bad conditions. Both the Venezuelan government and navy command praised him for the way he carried out the operation. He became a national news story in 1907 while serving aboard USS Connecticut during a training operation. When a gun nearly exploded because of leaking powder; he shoved his hand into the gun's breechblock, preventing the explosion and losing two of his fingers in the process.
He served as the first commanding officer of USS Monaghan in 1911. He would later command the Atlantic Fleet Torpedo Flotilla Fifth Fleet from the flagship USS Jouett. During World War I, he first commanded USS Supply and captured German Corvette Captain Adalbert Zuckschwerdt off the coast of Guam. He also commanded USS Komingin der Nederlanden during the war, for which he received the Navy Cross. The house he owned with wife Nellie Grant Cronan, granddaughter of President Ulysses S. Grant, is now an historical site in San Diego. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
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Life
Cronan was born on March 6, 1879, to Patrick J. Cronan and Ellen Theresa (Pigott) Cronan in New Haven, Connecticut. His uncle, James P. Pigott, served in the United States House of Representatives from Connecticut. Another uncle, James T. Mullen, was the first Supreme Knight of the Order of the Knights of Columbus.