Chambers

Irving Reynolds Chambers

Irving R Chambers

Irving Reynolds Chambers was born December 20, 1893 to Captain and Mrs. Washington Irving Chambers. Washington Irving was a prominent officer who was instrumental in the development of Naval Aviation. He eventually retired as an Admiral.

The family was reasonably affluent and little Irving attended the Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn, NY, a private school, where in first grade he was awarded the Penmanship Prize, an achievement that made the newspapers locally. After completion of his basic elementary and high school education he obtained a late appointment to the Naval Academy.

The newspaper reads; "September 03, 1910; Three New Middies; Annapolis, Sept 2. Three candidates were sworn in as an addition to the fourth class at the Naval Academy this morning. They are Irving R. Chambers, Washington DC; Haldan T. Dickinson, Glasgow KY, and Philip A. Weaver, Newport RI."

He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy on June 4, 1915. He was ranked number 131 in his class by his grades. He was classmates with the future Admirals Scott Umsted and Ralph Walso Christie. The speaker at the graduation was Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels. Once a midshipman had graduated they could marry and at some point he did just that and married the former Kathryn Slifer.

On September 9, 1918 he was appointed a Lieutenant. His first command was the USS Grayling (Submarine No. 18), from November 2, 1918 to April 1, 1919. In June, 1919 Chambers was given command of the O-5 (SS-66) and that boat operated out of the Submarine School at New London, CT. The boat conducted training for future submariners and it tested processes and procedures.

In September, 1921 he was the commanding officer of the R-6 (SS-83) with the boat moored in a nest of other submarines in the outer harbor of San Pedro, California, alongside the tender Camden (AS-6). Late in the evening of the 26th the crew was performing maintenance when a crewman unknowingly opened the breech door of a torpedo tube that already had the muzzle door opened to sea. For some reason the interlock preventing this either failed or had been disconnected. The boat rapidly flooded and sank to the shallow bottom of the harbor. Two men died in the sinking. Chambers was the last man to exit the submarine and while in the water began going to the assistance of crew who could not swim or were injured. The boat was raised, repaired, and put back into service.

On March 24, 1922 LT Chambers was ordered to new construction as a the prospective commanding officer of the S-33 (SS-138). He guided the boat through its difficult final construction phase, as it and most other S-boats were having serious problems with their engines. The engine work was finally completed and Chambers commissioned the boat on April 18, 1922.

On July 20, 1929 Chambers, now a Lieutenant Commander, and his wife rented a garden apartment at Jackson Heights, Cedar Court as reported in the newspapers. The exact location was not given in the newspaper account, but there is a Cedar Court in the Jackson Heights neighborhood in Queens, NYC, indicating that at this time he was assigned shore duty at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn.

He took command of the USS Winslow (DD-359) on February 17, 1937 and remained in command until June 9, 1939.

In July of 1942 now Captain Chambers took command of the light cruiser Concord (CL-10). and transferred command a year and a half later to CAPT O.C. Laird on December 16, 1943. During this time the Concord was assigned to the Southeast Pacific Force, she escorted convoys to Bora Bora in the Society Islands, exercised in the Canal Zone, and cruised along the coast of South America and to the islands of the southeast Pacific, serving from time to time as flagship of her force. Between September 5 and November 24, 1943, she carried Rear Admiral R. E. Byrd on a tour to survey the potential use of a number of southeast Pacific islands in national defense and commercial aviation. During this cruise, she suffered an aviation gasoline explosion which killed 22 men, including her executive officer, and caused considerable damage, which was repaired at Balboa. On December 16, 1943 he was relieved by CAPT O.C. Laird. After the war Chambers retired as a Captain.

Mrs. Kathryn Slifer Chambers died at Stony Brook, Long Island, on June 7, 1947. The funeral was held at the Carolyn Episcopal Church at Setauket, Long Island. Burial was in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA.

Irving Reynolds Chambers died on September. 24, 1979. Both are buried at Arlington National Cemetery Plot: Section 3 Site 3945-B

Photo Courtesy of the Monroe County Library Collection

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