Remembering Captain Linwood S. Howeth, USN, 20th Commander to Lead Navy Cryptologists

Born in Hurlock, Maryland on February 19, 1902, Captain Howeth was a 1925 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland. He served aboard the USS Salt Lake City (CA 25) from July 1939 to April 1942 when he reported aboard the USS Cleveland (CL 55). In January, 1943, Captain Howeth was assigned to Washington, D.C. as Administrative Assistant to the Assistant Chief of Naval Communications for Communication Supplementary activities. The following April, he was appointed Assistant Officer in Charge, Fleet Radio Unit Pacific and Officer in Charge, Mid- Pacific Network, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

From September 1944 until his retirement on July 1, 1955, Captain Howeth continued to serve in his Communications Specialty heading operations and assisting communications directors. He will be remembered for his ground-breaking book: “A History of Communications-Electronics in the U.S. Navy,” published in 1963, with an introduction by Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz, a work that is still referenced to this day.