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Captain Roy W.F. Werthmuller of McLean and Virginia Beach, VA passed away 19 May 2016. As the World War II Executive Officer and Navigator of USS Torsk (SS 423), he received the Silver Star for Valor for navigating Torsk for 18 hours through a Japanese underwater minefield in the Tsushima Strait and sinking several Japanese warships in the Sea of Japan in August 1945. The ships Torsk sank included the last two Japanese warships sunk in WWII. The last of these sinkings was a difficult bowshot at an attacking Japanese frigate at 2000 yards. USS Torsk is now a monument ship, open for tours, in the Baltimore Inner Harbor. Originally from St Louis, Missouri, Captain Werthmuller was an alumnus of the U. S. Naval Academy class of 1942, which graduated six months early in December 1941 due to WWII. He attended submarine school and served in submarines during the war. Subsequent Navy duty assignments included command of USS Spinax (SS-489), USS Yancey (AKA-93) and Submarine Division 33, as well as major staff assignments at Pacific Fleet headquarters in Hawaii and as the Chief of Staff to the first U.S. Admiral assigned as Commander Middle East Force (now named Commander Fifth Fleet) in Bahrain in the Arabian Gulf. He also had several significant assignments with Naval Intelligence to include acting Deputy Chief of Naval Intelligence, head of National Estimates, and head of Personnel, charged with making all Naval Intelligence assignments. Additional duties included diplomatic/attaché assignments in Turkey and Portugal. Due to his varied assignments, he spoke Arabic, Turkish, and Portuguese. Following retirement from the Navy in 1972, he earned an MBA degree from George Washington University, worked for two Naval Architecture firms until 1994, and spent his spare time sailing in the Chesapeake Bay and Caribbean with his wife, family members and friends. Following his second retirement, he and his wife Jeannette moved to Atlantic Shores, a retirement community in Virginia Beach, Virginia. While a member of the Atlantic Shores community, he served as Chairman of the Residents Council, Resident Director on the Corporate Board of Directors, and as Chairman of the Finance Committee. In recognition of his significant contribution to the Atlantic Shores Community, he was awarded a trophy and plaque designating him as one of the Founding Stars of Atlantic Shores. Captain Werthmuller is survived by his wife Jeannette, who he met and married in Coronado, California in 1948. They shared life in the Navy, living in many different parts of the world to include Hawaii, Turkey, Portugal, and several places in the continental U.S. He is also survived by his sons, Captain Roy Skip Werthmuller Jr USN (ret) and Dr W. Carey Werthmuller, his wife Warwick, and two granddaughters, Anna and Erin. In addition to the Silver Star, he was awarded many other medals and honors. He was a member of The Submarine Veterans, Submarine Veterans of WWII, the Naval Order of the United States, the Military Officer's Association of the U.S., and Army Navy Country Club. Services will be held for both Roy and Jeannette at Arlington National Cemetery June 18, 2019 at 8:30 a.m.

Published in St. Louis Post-Dispatch on June 12, 2019