Ordnance
On graduating in June 1922, Parsons was commissioned as an ensign and posted to the battleship USS Idaho, where he was placed in charge of one of the 14-inch gun turrets. In May 1927, Parsons, now a lieutenant (junior grade), returned to Annapolis, where he commenced a course in ordnance at the Naval Postgraduate School. He became friends with Lieutenant Jack Crenshaw, a fellow officer attending the same training course. Jack asked Parsons to be his best man at his wedding to Betty Cluverius, the daughter of the Commandant of the Norfolk Navy Yard, Rear Admiral Wat Tyler Cluverius, Jr., at the Norfolk Navy Chapel. As best man, Parsons was paired with Betty's maid of honor, her sister Martha. Parsons and Martha got along well, and in November 1929, they too were married at the Norfolk Navy Chapel. This time, Jack and Betty were best man and maid of honor.
The ordnance course was normally followed by a relevant field posting, so Parsons was sent to the Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Virginia to further study ballistics under L.T.E. Thompson. Following the usual pattern of alternating duty afloat and ashore, Parsons was posted to the battleship USS Texas in June 1930, with the rank of lieutenant. In November, the Commander in Chief United States Fleet, Admiral Jehu V. Chase, hoisted his flag on the Texas, bringing Cluverius with him as his chief of staff. This was awkward for Parsons, but Cluverius understood, being himself the son-in-law of an admiral, in his case, Admiral William T. Sampson.
In July 1933, Parsons became liaison officer between the Bureau of Ordnance and the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, DC. At the NRL he was briefed by the head of its Radio Division, A. Hoyt Taylor, who told him about experiments that had been carried out into what the Navy would later name radar. Parsons immediately recognized the potential of the new invention to locate ships and aircraft, and perhaps even track shells in flight. For this, he realized that he was going to need high frequency microwaves. He discovered that no one had attempted this. The scientists had not considered all the applications of the technology, and the Navy bureaux had not grasped their potential. He was able to persuade the scientists to establish a group to investigate microwave radar, but without official sanction it had low priority. Parsons submitted a memorandum on the subject to the Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) requesting $5,000 per annum for research. To his dismay, the BuOrd and Bureau of Engineering, which was responsible for the NRL, turned his proposal down.
Some thought that Parsons was ruining his career with his advocacy of radar, but he acquired one powerful backer. The Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer), Rear Admiral Ernest J. King supported the use of radar as a means of determining aircraft altitude. When the Bureau of Engineering protested that such a device would necessarily be too large to carry on an aeroplane, King told them that it would still be worthwhile if the only aircraft in the Navy big enough to carry it would be the airship USS Macon.
Parson's marriage produced three daughters. The first, Hannah, was born in 1932; the second, Margaret (Peggy), followed in 1934. Hannah died of polio in April 1935. Parsons returned to sea in June 1936 as the executive officer of the destroyer USS Aylwin. He was promoted to lieutenant commander in May 1937. His third daughter, Clara (Clare), was born the same year. On that occasion, Parsons left Martha with the newborn and three-year old Peggy to care for and reported for duty the next day, believing that his first responsibility was to his ship. His skipper, Commander Earl E. Stone, did not agree, and sent him home. In March 1938, Rear Admiral William R. Sexton had Parsons assigned to his flagship, the USS Detroit, as gunnery officer. Parson's task was to improve the gunnery scores of his command, and in this he succeeded.
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