Early Career
Born in Dodge City, Kansas, to Edward Grant Gingrich and the former Bertha Allen, he attended the University of Kansas before receiving an appointment to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1915. He graduated from the Naval Academy on June 7, 1919, and was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy.
His first assignment was aboard the battleship Pennsylvania, flagship of the Atlantic Fleet. From January 1920 to July 1921 he served as assistant communication officer on the staff of Admiral Henry B. Wilson, Jr., Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet. In August 1921 he was transferred from Pennsylvania to the newly commissioned battleship Maryland, where he remained until June 1925, when he returned to the Naval Academy for a two-year tour as an instructor in the Department of Navigation.
From May 1927 to July 1930 he served as gunnery officer aboard the armored cruiser Rochester, which operated in the Caribbean Sea during interventions in Nicaragua and Haiti. He spent the next two years with the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps Unit at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He commanded the fleet tug Algorma from June 1932 until April 1934, then served aboard the heavy cruiser Indianapolis until June 1935.
He next reported to Washington, D.C., for duty in the Navy Department's Hydrographic Office. During this tour, he helped complete a new set of precomputed tables to assist aviators and navigators in calculating their positions. Published in 1936, the new Aerial and Marine Navigation Tables were a vast improvement over the previous Ageton tables in terms of ease of calculation and accuracy, and were used for years afterward. He served as head of the Hydrographic Office's research division until 1937.
From June 1937 to June 1939, he served afloat as aide and flag secretary on the staff of Commander Battleship Division 3, Battle Force, aboard the division flagship Idaho. He remained with the fleet for a third year as navigator of the battleship New Mexico.
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