NAVY MISSILE EXPERT ASSUMES COMMAND
OF NEW TOPEKA

Captain Frank L. Pinney, Jr., assumes command of the USS TOPEKA CLG 8 today, having already established excellent qualifications for this very important role in America's first line of defense. In keeping with the rapid trend in our modern Navy toward increased scholarship and training :in scientific areas, Captain Pinney has had considerable formal preparation for fighting ship armed with guided missiles. In the two year period just prior to being ordered to the TOPEKA, he served as Deputy Director of the Fleet Missile (POLARIS) Program in the Bureau of Naval Weapons.

Following graduation from the U. S. Naval Academy in May 1934, Captain Pinney served at sea for six years aboard the Cruiser, USS Portland, and the Destroyer, USS Hull, and then reported to the Naval Post Graduate School at Annapolis for the course in Ordnance Engineering. He was then sent to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, remaining in attendance there until September 1942 when he was awarded the degree of Master of Science.

From 1953 to 1954 he attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington, D. C. and then in 1954 reported to the Bureau of Ordnance as Head of the Special Weapons Branch and Program Director for Nuclear Applications, where he remained until assuming command of the USS FREMONT, APA-44, in June 1956.

Captain Pinney was born in Washington, D. C. on March 17, 1913, son of Captain Frank L. Pinney, USN (now deceased) and Mrs. Mary Brogden Pinney. He attended Sidwell Friends School in Washington, graduating in 1929, and the next year prepared at Severn School, Severna Park, Maryland, for his entrance to the Naval Academy in 1930. As a Midshipman he was Editor of the Lucky Bag, and Captain of the Tennis Team in 1934. Graduated and commissioned Ensign on May 31, 1934, he subsequently advanced in rank to that of Captain, his date of rank November 20, 1952.

Reporting to the New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, New York, in September 1942, he had duty in connection with fitting out the USS IOWA (BB 61), and served as her Assistant Gunnery Officer and later as Gunnery Officer from her commissioning in February 1943, until January 1945. During his service on board, that battleship participated in the Marshall Islands Operation; Asiatic-Pacific raids of 1944: Holandia Operation; Mariannas, Western Carolines and Leyte Operations; and the capture and occupation of Tinian. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, with Combat "V" for meritorious service in connection with operations against the enemy during this cruise.

Upon his return to the United States in January 1945, he was designated Aide to Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy. USN, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and served in that capacity for two years. In March 1947 he assumed command of the USS HUGH PURVIS (DD 709), and after his detachment two years later, reported in April 1949 to the Atomic Energy Commission, Washington, D. C., for duty in the Research and Development Division. Completing that tour in May 1952, he assumed command in June of that year, of Destroyer Division TWENTY-TWO, and remained in command for fourteen months.

Captain Pinney and his wife, the former Ellen Jett McCormick of Washington, D. C. have three children: Mrs. Robert L. Harrington, Midshipman Frank L. Pinney, III, and John M. Pinney. They are presently residing in Brooklyn, New York.

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