Captain Edward L. Beach

USS Salamonie: March 1957 – January 1958

Edward Latimer “Ned” Beach   one of the best known navel officers of our time died December 1, 2002. Capt. Beach was 84 years of age and had suffered from cancer. He is buried at Annapolis Md. directly across the street from Beach Hall named in honor of Captains Beach, father and son. This building was dedicated in 1999 and serves as Headquarters for the Navel Institute Press.

Beach was born in New York City in 1918 to a Naval officer a captain who had served in actions in the Philippines and the Caribbean.

 His Father tried to dissuade him from the rigors of a Navel career, but inspired by his father he chose to attend the Navel Academy at Annapolis where he graduated as Regimental Commander and ranked academically 2^nd in the class of 1939. As Ensign and Lt.jg he served two pre-war years in USS Lea DD118, a WWI 4-piper destroyer, on North Atlantic Neutrality patrols and then received orders to Submarine School. He loved destroyer duty and had not requested transfer to subs, but he accepted those orders and a whole new career opened to him. He graduated from sub school 1^st in his class.

From that time until war’s end, he made patrols in USS Trigger SS-237 and USS Tirante SS-420. Before the surrender of Japan Cdr. “Ned” Beach was skipper of the USS Piper SS-409 on patrol in the western Pacific. His boats were in at least 50 battle actions. Beach earned 10 decorations for war service during that time period including the Navy Cross for gallantry. 

With peacetime returned, he began a series of assignments that kept him involved with many of the great changes that were happening in the Navy. First he was Aide to Vice Admiral Louis Denfield, Chief of Naval Personnel. Then duty took him to an office concerned with nuclear development and inter-service battles over the control of “nukes” and the memorable “Revolt of the Admirals”. He became active in these efforts thereby met and worked with Captain Hyman Rickover, who was rapidly becoming the Navy’s top nuclear authority and leader. 

In the early 1950’s, Captain Beach was appointed Naval Aide to President Dwight Eisenhower and served a four-year duty assignment. While assigned to the President Capt. Beaches best known book “Run Silent Run Deep” was written. The drama of cramped quarters, a revenge-obsessed captain and the crew of a submarine at war was the basis for the best selling 1955 novel. The book was made into a popular 1958 movie starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster. When asked his opinion of the movie Beach stated it was not true to the Navy he had tried to describe. At his own request he was relieved of duty as Naval Aide to the President and his next assignment was as Commanding Officer, USS Salamonie AO-26. From Salamonie he went as C.O. to the fifth nuclear sub built, the USS Triton. In 1960 as Commander of the USS Triton he circumnavigated the globe in 84 days—a record that still stands. This was done while completely submerged. One of Captain Beaches 12 books “Around the World Submerged” was published in 1962. When asked about the rigors of the trip he stated it had been tougher to endure a 24-hour depth-charging at the hands of the Japanese. 

Capt. Beach retired in 1966 and turned his efforts to writing. He was asked how he had time while in the Navy to write his many books, he said “Instead of playing golf or going to a lot of parties, I would come back from the White House, sit in my living room with a clipboard and write”. His father also wrote novels while in active service as a naval officer. In his 1995 book “Scapegoats! A Defense of Kimmel and Short at Pearl Harbor”

Beach made the case that Admiral Husband E. Kimmel and General Walter C. Short were wrongfully blamed for being caught off-guard in the devastating Dec.7 1941 Japanese air attack. Beach blamed Pentagon officials in Washington for failing to transmit accurate war warnings in time. 

Captain Beach was the principal speaker at the April 2000 reunion of the USS Salamonie Reunion Association. Few crews can boast of having had a C.O. and a shipmate with the honors, talents and accomplishments the equal of CAPTAIN “NED” BEACH.