Rear Admiral Kemp Tolley, U.S.N. Retired "Muse of the Yangtze River Rats" April 29, 1908 - October 28, 2000

Now a writer on selected naval subjects Admiral Tolley was born at Ft. McKinley, Manila, Philippine Islands in 1908 where his father was an American Army officer. Kemp Tolley enjoyed a widely varied and unique naval career of 34 years. Twenty-five of these years were spent abroad or at sea.

Before WWII he served in the battleships Florida and Texas, cruiser Houston, He also served with the Asiatic Fleet in the submarine tender Canopus, and river gunboats Mindanao, Tutuila, and Wake. The gunboats were assigned to the Yangtze Patrol and South China Patrol. He also completed the navy's Russian course in Shanghai, China and Riga, Latvia in the mid-1930's which made him one of the few qualified Russian speakers in the pre-war navy. In addition to shipboard assignments he was also detailed as French language instructor at his alma mater, the U.S. Naval Academy. Evading Japanese clutches in China in late November 1941 he arrived in Manila via the river gunboat Oahu as the guest navigator just three days before the outbreak of WWII in the Pacific.

On December 5, 1941 Lieutenat Tolley took command of the schooner USS Lanikai for a special mission ordered by President Roosevelt. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor this intelligence mission became moot and the Lanikai joined the Inshore Patrol. This assignment lasted until Lanikai was detached 26 December 1941 with orders to attempt to escape with passengers to friendly waters. During this cruise Lanikai transited from Manila in the Philippine Islands, to Surabaya on Java in the then Netherlands East Indies. Lanikai participated briefly in the doomed defense of Java. Just prior to the fall of Java then Lt. Commander Tolley took his ship to Tjilatjap on the south coast of Java where she served as a last gasp exit for allied stragglers. The Lanikai departed Java 26 February 1942 just prior to the Dutch surrender and arrived at Fremantle, Australia on 18 March 1942. After suitable recovery and refitting Lanikai was engaged in patrol work along the northern coast of Western Australia until April 27, 1942. LCDR/CDR Tolley was next assigned for two years as an Assistant Naval Attache at our embassy in Moscow where his Russian skills were taxed in dealing with the Soviet Government. This assignment was followed by one year of duty as navigator in the battleship North Carolina in the western Pacific.

Postwar duty included Intelligence, Armed Forces Staff College instructor, skippering a major Amphibious Force ship, then a squadron, and as his final sea duty, commanding Amphibious Group, Western Pacific. While Commander Fleet Activities, Yokosuka, Japan, Admiral Tolley became good friends with many former Imperial officers, including Admiral Nomura, 1941 ambassador at Washington, all providing valuable views and information regarding Japanese perceptions on WWII.

Admiral Tolley's experiences in China before World War II provide the foundation for his book relating to the Yangtze Patrol and the between wars politics of China. Time spent in language school as well as two years assigned to the American Embassy in Moscow provided him with the material used in the volume relating to wartime in the Stalinist Soviet Union. The escape of the USS Lanikai provides interesting material relating to the early, dark days, of World War II in the Pacific as well as material relating to the politics leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Retiring in 1959, Tolley and his wife Vlada, whom he met, wooed and married in the Soviet Union, have spent retirement at the family home near Monkton, Maryland, where he carpenters, gardens, wrote four books plus numerous journal articles, plays acey-ducey with colleagues and canoes on the local Gunpowder River.

Admiral Tolley passed away from a massive stroke October 28, 2000. Sic transit gloria.

• Caviar and Commissars : The experiences of a U.S. Naval Officer in Stalin's Russia, Annapolis: U.S. Naval Institute Press, 1983.
• Ed Heinemann, Combat Aircraft Designer, Annapolis: U.S. Naval Institute Press, 1980.
• Cruise of the Lanikai : Incitment to War, Annapolis: U.S. Naval Institute Press, 1973.
• Yangtze Patrol : The U.S. Navy in China, Annapolis: U.S. Naval Institute Press, 1971.

Prepared by Phil Abbey, Uploaded April 20, 1998. Updated April 4, 2001. Comments and suggestions to pr_abbey@hotmail.com.