Biography
William Standley was born in Ukiah, California, where his grandfather operated a hotel, and his father, "Doc" Standley was Mendocino County Sheriff. William Standley graduated from the Naval Academy in 1895. He then served the required two years' sea duty in the cruiser Olympia (C-6) before he received his commission as an ensign in 1897. During the Spanish–American War, he served in the monitor Monterey (BM-6) and later in the gunboat Alert (AS-4). After the fighting with Spain had ended, he joined the gunboat Yorktown (PG-1), during the Philippine–American War. He won a commendation for bravery during a volunteer reconnaissance mission carried out at Baler, on 11 April 1899. In conjunction with a feint conducted by Lt. J. C. Gilmore, Standley—then an ensign—ventured into enemy territory to reconnoiter insurgent positions.
Ordered to the gunboat Marietta (PG-15) on 29 May 1901, Standley later became Officer in Charge, Branch Hydrographic Office, San Francisco, California, in October of the same year. Assigned to the training ship Pensacola in June 1902, he later served as engineer in the ship Adams and as aide to the Commandant of the Naval Station at Tutuila, Samoa. Designated as the captain of the yard there in 1905, Standley discharged his duties as officer in charge of the native guard and chief customs officer until detached with orders to the United States in October 1906.
Reporting to the receiving ship Independence in January 1907, Standley served as executive officer of the cruiser Albany (CL-23) from February 1909 to August 1910. From January 1910, he also discharged duties as Albany's navigator as well. Standley then reported to the armored cruiser Pennsylvania (ACR-4) on 3 November 1910 and was navigator of that ship until becoming aide to the Commandant of the Mare Island Navy Yard at Vallejo, California. After three years in that post, Standley became executive officer of the battleship New Jersey (BB-16) and later took command of the gunboat Yorktown on 15 May 1915.
Read more about this topic: William Harrison Standley
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“In how few words, for instance, the Greeks would have told the story of Abelard and Heloise, making but a sentence of our classical dictionary.... We moderns, on the other hand, collect only the raw materials of biography and history, “memoirs to serve for a history,” which is but materials to serve for a mythology.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Just how difficult it is to write biography can be reckoned by anybody who sits down and considers just how many people know the real truth about his or her love affairs.”
—Rebecca West [Cicily Isabel Fairfield] (1892–1983)