Charles Dwight Sigsbee
Rear Admiral Charles D. Sigsbee
Born	(1845-01-16)January 16, 1845 Albany, New York, U.S.
Died	July 13, 1923(1923-07-13) (aged 78) New York City, New York, U.S.
Place of burial	Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, U.S.
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Navy
Service years	1862–1907
Rank	Rear admiral
Commands	USS Maine USS Texas South Atlantic Squadron
Conflicts	American Civil War Operations in Mobile Bay Battle of Mobile Bay Wilmington campaigns First Battle of Fort Fisher Second Battle of Fort Fisher Formosan Expedition Spanish–American War Sinking ofMaine Puerto Rico campaign Second Battle of San Juan
Alma mater	The Albany Academy
Signature

Charles Dwight Sigsbee (January 16, 1845 – July 13, 1923) was arear admiral in theUnited States Navy. In his earlier career, he was a pioneering oceanographer and hydrographer. He is best remembered as the captain ofUSS Maine, which exploded inHavana Harbor,Cuba, in 1898 and set off the events that led up to the start of theSpanish–American War. He was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1899.^[1]

Sigsbee was born inAlbany, New York, and educated atThe Albany Academy. He was appointed acting midshipman on 16 July 1862.

Sigsbee fought in numerous engagements during theAmerican Civil War, mostly against Confederate forts and batteries. Sigsbee served aboardMonongahela,Wyoming, andShenandoah from 1863 to 1869, when he was assigned to duty at theNaval Academy. In 1871, he was assigned to the Hydrographic Office. He was first posted to the Hydrographic Office in 1873. He was assigned to the Coast Survey in 1874 and commanded the Coast Survey steamerBlake from 1875 to 1878. He returned to the Navy Hydrographic Office from 1878 to 1882 and served ashydrographer in theBureau of Navigation from 1893 to 1897. During his period onBlake, he developed the Sigsbee sounding machine, which became a standard item of deep-water oceanographic equipment for the next 50 years.

Sigsbee served at the Naval Academy from 1869 to 1871, from 1882 to 1885, and from 1887 to 1890. He served on the Board of Control for theUnited States Naval Institute. He commandedKearsarge on the European station from 1885 to 1886 and the training shipPortsmouth from 1891 to 1892.

Sigsbee took command of the armored cruiserMaine in April 1897. AfterMaine was destroyed in February 1898, Sigsbee and his officers were exonerated by a court of inquiry. He then commandedSt. Paul in 1898 at theSecond Battle of San Juan^[2] andTexas until 1900.

In February, he was appointed Chief Intelligence Officer of theOffice of Naval Intelligence, succeeding CommanderRichardson Clover. He held that post until April 1903 when he was succeeded by CommanderSeaton Schroeder. He was promoted torear admiral on 10 August 1903.

He assumed command of theSouth Atlantic Squadron in 1904 and the Second Division,North Atlantic Squadron, in 1905.

He commandedUSS Brooklyn as hisflagship on June 7, 1905, which sailed forCherbourg,France. There, the remains of the lateJohn Paul Jones were taken aboard and brought home for his interment at the United States Naval Academy.

Sigsbee retired from the Navy in 1907 and died inNew York, 1923. He is buried inArlington National Cemetery.^[3] His grandson, Charles Dwight Sigsbee III, First Lieutenant, US Army, was buried near to him on July 10, 1956.

Conscious of his legacy, Sigsbee penned a book giving the history of theMaine and his experiences aboard her. The book was entitledThe MAINE - An Account of Her Destruction in Havana Harbor and was published by the Century Company of New York in 1899.^{[citation needed]}

His daughterMary Ellen Sigsbee (1877–1960)^[4] was an artist, socialist and feminist.^[5]

He has several namesakes:

• The destroyerUSS Sigsbee (DD-502) was named for him.
• Sigsbee Park, the primary military family housing area forNaval Air Station Key West, and the collocated Sigsbee Elementary School are named in his honor.
• Sigsbee Deep, the deepest part of theGulf of Mexico, was discovered by ships under his command and was named in his honor.^{[citation needed]}
• On May 25, 1898, Daniel Bevill was appointed postmaster of a new post office in Shelby County, Missouri, but needed a name for the office. Bevill had so admired Sigsbee, a naval officer in command of the battleshipMaine, which blew up in Havana Harbor in 1898, that he named the post office site asSigsbee (Shelby County Historical Society records).

• Midshipman – September 27, 1859
• Passed Midshipman – 1863
• Master – May 10, 1866
• Commodore - Jan 4, 1867

Ensign	Lieutenant junior grade	Lieutenant	Lieutenant commander	Commander	Captain	Commodore	Rear admiral
O-1	O-2	O-3	O-4	O-5	O-6	O-7	O-8
October 3, 1863	Never Held	April 21, 1867	March 12, 1868	May 11, 1882	March 21, 1897	Unknown	August 10, 1903

 This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

• "Sigsbee".Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy. Archived fromthe original on March 29, 2004. RetrievedSeptember 5, 2008.
• Hamersly, Lewis Randolph (1898).Charles D. Sigsbee (Sixth ed.). L. R. Hamersly & Company. RetrievedApril 9, 2007.{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)

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• Finding Aid to Charles D. Sigsbee Papers, 1858–1923 at theNew York State Library, accessed May 18, 2016.

• 1845 births
• 1923 deaths
• American cartographers
• American hydrographers
• American oceanographers
• United States Navy personnel of the Spanish–American War
• United States Navy admirals
• Military personnel from Albany, New York
• Union navy officers
• Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
• Directors of the Office of Naval Intelligence
• The Albany Academy alumni
• Members of the American Philosophical Society

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