Right, Stuart Monteith, (granddaughter of W.R. Smedberg III) along with her mother Claudia Smedberg Adams Estes (daughter of W.R. Smedberg III) presents David Way (USS Iowa Curator) the scrapbook that was given to Captain W.R. Smedberg III after his tour of duty as commander of the USS Iowa.

Vice Admiral’s daughter finds memories on famed USS Iowa

May 24, 2013
Santa Paula News

It was the first time the Vice Admiral’s daughter had set foot on the USS Iowa and Claudia Smedberg Adams Estes made sure she didn’t miss a thing, even a visit to the brig. 

What was remarkable about the visit was that Claudia’s father, Vice Admiral William Renwick Smedberg III, had been captain of the battleship in the 1950s, and Claudia, now in her mid-80s, was leaving everyone else behind as she searched out every nook and cranny of the fabled ship. 

Another remarkable facet of the visit was its purpose, to present a detailed oversized 84-page scrapbook to the Battleship Iowa, now permanently stationed in San Pedro where it opened as a museum last year. A native of Melbourne, FL, Claudia was visiting her Santa Paula-based daughter, Realtor Stuart Monteith, who had been in possession of the scrapbook since it was found in her brother’s closet in North Carolina.

The Pacific Battleship Center, which operates the USS Iowa Museum, called the scrapbook “a valuable time capsule” that contains every article, magazine, photo and telegram as well as logs of the number of shells fired, pictures of targets destroyed during practice, and more than 2,000 real targets. Just what one would expect from a Navy man whose family’s involvement in the military covers six generations.

Claudia said during the May 19 visit to the USS Iowa, “I found myself talking to my dad... as I was going on the ship I remember he told me at the time ‘there wasn’t an inch on the ship I haven’t seen’ - that was the kind of person my father was. He was an incredible man, known as the enlisted man’s admiral” for his friendliness and compassion to those he commanded.

“It was like a dream come true being on the Iowa,” and Claudia said although her father had commanded two destroyers during World War II, he had taken the Iowa “out of mothballs” for Korean War service. Smedberg was its first captain when it was returned to duty on August 25, 1951; he stayed in command until July 29, 1952, and it was his aide who compiled the remarkable scrapbook that was as much about the man as about the ship he commanded.

USS Iowa Curator David Way agreed, and although he has not yet had the time to examine the scrapbook closely he realized immediately, “I’ve never seen anything like it before.... It sounds like the Marine Corporal actually put it together, but I’ve never seen an active captain have something like that; most wouldn’t have even thought about it.” The existence of the book and the “labor of love” detail “to me pointed out how much the crew and the people associated with then-Captain Smedberg felt about him.” 

Way said he was impressed when, during the visit to present the scrapbook, Claudia “pointed out how her father had gone to every area of the ship.... Not all captains would do that, it was a very telling comment on his character” that led to his reputation as the enlisted man’s admiral. 

Claudia said her tour of the ship included the brig, “everywhere, places the public is never going to see. I was just in seventh heaven... Daddy came alive for a few hours that day.” As did memories of Claudia’s childhood: she was the only girl, with two brothers - both Naval Academy graduates, one an admiral and the other a captain before retirement - who knew their older but petite sister was tough.

“When I was growing up I learned to throw a football and a baseball,” and when the athletic Claudia - born on Coronado Island - was a team captain others would joke that she would bite the opposing team on the knees. She’s still athletic, and is a noted bowler who competes with state level leagues and noted, “All my life I lived on bases where there were bowling alleys, movie theaters, maybe a pool.”

The military life was a life Claudia continued: “When Daddy was the head of the department of electrical engineer I was engaged to Stuart’s father,” and in her own career. “I married in 1950 when Dad left his position to take over the Iowa,” and then she started raising a family while also moving around with her military husband.

Later, when Smedberg was the superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, Claudia “did a lot of hosting for Father.... I met two kings,” among scores of other dignitaries. 

But it was his time on the Iowa that Claudia finds so interesting, even though she knows less about her father’s duty. “It was during the war so he couldn’t say or write a lot, but I do remember him talking about shelling the shore... the Iowa used the most ammunition in the Korean War,” a record of volleys that still stands.

But even in the midst of war with the heavy burden of command, “One of the most unusual things about my dad was that he was such a people person, he did things for the crew at the time that were unheard of... no one was allowed to have facial hair and he would have a beard growing contest.... He also had a Captain for a Day contest, where he’d let an enlisted man bathe in his square metal tub” that had been especially installed for a visit from President Franklin Roosevelt. 

Iowa Curator Way noted Smedberg’s beard growing contest was “pretty unique for the Navy, which is very spit and polish, and the fundraising to be captain for the day and take the bath” demonstrated an uncommon sense of fun and camaraderie.

Claudia said although Vice Admiral Smedberg was a big man in many ways, he “had to stretch to make the 5’ 6” requirement to be accepted in the Navy. A lot of people said he was a little man, but the tallest man they ever met,” and one who was unbeatable at ping-pong and golf.

Claudia, widowed and remarried to a retired Air Force major general, said although her father enjoyed all his duty - including leading the Naval Academy whose stadium is named in his honor - “As far as he was concerned the pinnacle of his career was that tour with the Iowa.... It was the most exciting duty he ever had, and I remember him saying it wasn’t long enough.”

As it was, Stuart Monteith said, the tour of the Iowa wasn’t long enough: “My two girls,” Christy and Darcy, “were just fascinated by the whole thing, blown away” by the Iowa and their great-grandfather’s connection to the fabled warship. 

Claudia agreed: “It was an incredible day, exciting, and the expression on the curator’s face when he saw the scrapbook was so excited.... I did so much talking to my dad Sunday; I could just see him on that ship.”

When she asked to see the brig, Claudia was told, “ ‘You don’t want to go down there,’ and I said, ‘of course I do!’ We went down there... it was awful, a tiny room with a tiny john as long as a bunk, no window, nothing but a mesh door.” It reminded her how hard her father tried to avoid sending anyone to the brig. 

“He had the most remarkable way of punishing people in a humane way, but a way they would always remember,” patterned on his own experience when Midshipman Smedberg “climbed the wall at the Naval Academy” to attend a Chevy Chase country club dance with a young lady. Of course he ran into an admiral, who simply told Smedberg he believed it best if he returned to the academy, an experience he never forgot. 

Claudia said what surprised her most about her visit to the USS Iowa was “my feelings about being close to Daddy again,” who passed away in 1994 at the age of 92. “He was my hero... I could see him up there watching everything I was doing and hearing my mother say, ‘Oh Smeddy!’ That’s how people knew him - as Smeddy.”





Site Search

E-Subscribe

Subscribe

E-SUBSCRIBE
Call 805 525 1890 to receive the entire paper early. $50.00 for one year.

webmaster