DAVID A. MCDERMUT, LCDR, USN

David McDermut '47

Date of birth: March 24, 1824

Age: 39

Loss

David was lost on April 18, 1863, when he was shot while leading a reconnaissance party ashore at Sabine Pass, Texas. He was the commanding officer of USS Cayuga (1861).

He was born in, and appointed to the Naval Academy from, New York. He is also buried in New York.

He is listed on the killed in action panel in the front of Memorial Hall.

Career

From the Naval History and Heritage Command:

Midshipman, 8 November, 1841. Passed Midshipman, 10 August, 1847. Master, 1 March, 1855. Lieutenant, 14 September, 1855. Lieutenant Commander, 16 July, 1862. Killed in action 18 April, 1863.

From Find A Grave:

During the Civil War, he served in Potomac and Marion before assuming command of Cayuga on December 2, 1862.

As a Lieutenant in 1856, while serving aboard the frigate Independence in the Bay of Panama, he faced a court martial on four charges. He was found not guilty of three, but guilty of the fourth (sleeping on watch). He was sentenced to a public reprimand by the commander in chief of the U.S. Naval Forces in the Pacific Ocean. (Details located by researcher Kathy Franz.)

Namesake

USS McDermut (DD 262) and USS McDermut (DD 677) were named for David; the latter ship was sponsored by Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, widow of the 28th President of the United States.

Navy Directories & Officer Registers

The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.

The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.

The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.