JAMES D. HASELDEN, JR., LTJG, USN
James Haselden, Jr. '20
Lucky Bag
From the 1920 Lucky Bag:
James Dudley Haselden
Dillon, South Carolina
"Dud"
TO look at "Gloomy," you wouldn't think he was non-reg. He looks quiet and innocent enough—but it 's all wrong! That room on the first deck with the Haselden & Crouter sign on the door, is a regular Smoke Hall for the whole Ninth Company. If the odds against him are greater than those famous odds we know so well before a certain game of football First Class year, he hesitates to take a chance on toying with the authorities, but usually doesn't hesitate for long.
"Dud" is one of those unfortunate individuals who made the gymnastic squad without any previous experience and is the proud claimant of a wNs.
Being from the good old South and living up to all its traditions, "Gloom" is naturally averse to water, so much so that he dreads the yearly test of buoyancy, and every year he begins learning the swimming game all over again from the bottom up.
"Gloom" never did believe in embarrassing the professors and never shows them up in the fine points of the naval sciences. The Academic Departments have not seemed to appreciate his modesty and sometimes go so far as to assign him a 2.0 for his monthly mark. Still "Dud" has always weathered their attacks, and has plugged along when his ship has almost foundered.
Honors: Buzzard.
The Class of 1920 was graduated in June 1919 due to World War I. The entirety of 2nd class (junior) year was removed from the curriculum.
James Dudley Haselden
Dillon, South Carolina
"Dud"
TO look at "Gloomy," you wouldn't think he was non-reg. He looks quiet and innocent enough—but it 's all wrong! That room on the first deck with the Haselden & Crouter sign on the door, is a regular Smoke Hall for the whole Ninth Company. If the odds against him are greater than those famous odds we know so well before a certain game of football First Class year, he hesitates to take a chance on toying with the authorities, but usually doesn't hesitate for long.
"Dud" is one of those unfortunate individuals who made the gymnastic squad without any previous experience and is the proud claimant of a wNs.
Being from the good old South and living up to all its traditions, "Gloom" is naturally averse to water, so much so that he dreads the yearly test of buoyancy, and every year he begins learning the swimming game all over again from the bottom up.
"Gloom" never did believe in embarrassing the professors and never shows them up in the fine points of the naval sciences. The Academic Departments have not seemed to appreciate his modesty and sometimes go so far as to assign him a 2.0 for his monthly mark. Still "Dud" has always weathered their attacks, and has plugged along when his ship has almost foundered.
Honors: Buzzard.
The Class of 1920 was graduated in June 1919 due to World War I. The entirety of 2nd class (junior) year was removed from the curriculum.
Loss
James was lost on September 25, 1925 when USS S-51 (SS 162) was sunk immediately following a collision with the merchant ship SS City of Rome while operating on the surface south of Newport, Rhode Island.
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
James’ body was taken from the engine room of the S-51 and identified by J. H. Taylor, a fingerprint expert.
James was nominated to the Naval Academy by J. Willard Ragsdale, congressman from the sixth district.
Per the Florence Morning News, September 29, 1925:
After graduation at Anapolis [sic], his first service was on the craft Waldersee after which he was assigned from time to time to various ships of the navy, seeing service on the battleship Utah, the destroyer Peary, and getting instructions in ship engineering on the U. S. S. Bernardo at Pensacola, Fla. In 1922 he was assigned to the aviation unit of the service, remaining there for a course of instruction in aviation, lasting several months, and involving flying and piloting dirigibles, balloons and airplance [sic.] Returning again to the battleship Utah completed another cruise with that vessel after which he was assigned to the Hannibal in Coast Geodic survey work in the Carribbean [sic] waters, from which ship he went to the submarine in New London.
James’ brother William died in 1904 at the age of four. His sisters were Louise (Mrs. Don Currie) and Mary Lucia, a teacher. After the 1912 death of their mother, Mary (Edwards), they were raised by their aunt and uncle, Carrie and Dr. Henry Arthur Edwards. Louise’s son born in 1927 was named James Dudley Currie. James’ father suffered a stroke and received his son’s naval dependent pension from July 13, 1928 until his death at the Edwards home in January 1930.
He was survived by his father and is buried in South Carolina.
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.
January 1920
January 1921
January 1922
May 1923
July 1923
September 1923
November 1923
January 1924
March 1924
May 1924
July 1924
September 1924
July 1925
Related Articles
Mark Crouter '20 was James' roommate; they are also on the same page of the 1920 Lucky Bag.
Harlow Pino '21, Frederic Foster '22, and Edmund Egbert '23 were also lost when S-51 was sunk.
The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of alumni in Memorial Hall.
