Remembering the WWI Service of John "Slew" McCain
By Chris Isleib
Director of Public Affairs, United States World War One Centennial Commission
Last week, our nation mourned the loss, and celebrated the life, of Senator John McCain. As we know, Senator McCain's commitment to our country also included wartime service in Vietnam as an aviator with the U.S. Navy.
John "Slew" McCain as a Naval Academy Midshipman (left) before WWI, and as a Vice Admiral in WWII.His Navy service has connection to that of his grandfather, John "Slew" McCain, who fought in World War I and would become a highly-regarded Admiral during World War II.
McCain was born in Carroll County, Mississippi, and attended the University of Mississippi for two years. He decided to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, where his brother William Alexander McCain was enrolled. To practice for its entrance exams, he decided to take the ones for the United States Naval Academy. When he passed those and earned an appointment, he decided to attend there instead.
At the Naval Academy, McCain's performance was lackluster. He failed his annual physical on account of defective hearing, but the condition was waived due to the great need for officers. When he graduated in 1906, he ranked 79th out of 116 in his class.
Soon after earning his commission, McCain sailed aboard the Great White Fleet's world cruise from 1907 to 1909, joining the battleship USS Connecticut for the last stretch home. His next assignment was to the Asiatic Squadron, after which the Navy ordered him to the naval base at San Diego, California.
During 1914 and 1915 he was executive officer and engineering officer aboard the armored cruiser USS Colorado, patrolling off the Pacific coast of then-troubled Mexico. In September 1915, he joined the armored cruiser USS San Diego, flagship for the Pacific Fleet.
After the U.S. entered World War I, McCain and San Diego served on convoy duty in the Atlantic, escorting shipping through the first dangerous leg of their passages to Europe. Based out of Tompkinsville, New York, and Halifax, the USS San Diego operated in the weather-torn, submarine-infested North Atlantic. McCain left the San Diego in May 1918, when he was assigned to the Bureau of Navigation. Two months later, USS San Diego was sunk off the coast of Long Island by a mine played by a German U-Boat.
McCain's career continued through the interwar years, where he advanced in rank, and became expert in the budding field of Naval Aviation. These skills would prove critical to American efforts when WWII broke out.
Admiral McCain held several command assignments during the Pacific campaign of World War II. McCain was a pioneer of aircraft carrier operations. Serving in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II, in 1942 he commanded all land-based air operations in support of the Guadalcanal campaign, and in 1944–45 he aggressively led the Fast Carrier Task Force. His operations off the Philippines and Okinawa and air strikes against Formosa and the Japanese home islands caused tremendous destruction of Japanese naval and air forces in the closing period of the war.
The stress of his war service took a drastic toll on his health, and McCain died of a heart attack four days after the formal Japanese surrender ceremony. His death was front-page news across the United States.
Several of Slew McCain's descendants also graduated from the United States Naval Academy. He and his son, John S. McCain Jr., were the first father-son pair to achieve four-star admiral rank in the U.S. Navy. His grandson was a U.S. Senator from Arizona and 2008 Republican presidential nominee, Navy Captain John S. McCain III. His great-grandson, John S. McCain IV, currently serves in the U.S. Navy as a helicopter pilot.