The Washington Post
September 4, 2012
Robert W. McNitt, a retired Navy rear admiral whose career spanned two wars and who, after retiring from the Navy, was dean of admissions at the U.S. Naval Academy for more than a decade, died Aug. 12 at the Ginger Cove retirement community in Annapolis. He was 97. He had congestive heart failure, his son Douglas McNitt said. During World War II, Adm. McNitt was assigned as executive officer to the USS Barb in the Pacific. The submarine was credited with sinking 29 Japanese ships, including an aircraft carrier, a destroyer and a cruiser. The Barb was under the command of Cmdr. Eugene B. "Gene" Fluckey, who is considered one of the greatest naval heroes of World War II. "Lucky Fluckey," as he was known, was awarded the Medal of Honor and four Navy Crosses. (Courtesy of McNitt family) - Robert W. McNitt, a retired Navy rear admiral whose career spanned two wars and who, after retiring from the Navy, was dean of admissions at the U.S. Naval Academy, has died. "He was extraordinary," Adm. McNitt told The Washington Post at the time of Fluckey's death in 2007. "He immediately gained the full confidence of his officers and crew. He made a point of walking through the submarine several times a day. He knew everybody on board and knew a lot about them." Adm. McNitt completed five wartime patrols and received two awards of the Silver Star, one of which was for rescuing Allied prisoners of war who had been aboard a torpedoed Japanese transport. "In addition to being executive officer on the Barb, Bob's secondary job was serving as navigator," retired Rear Adm. James A. Winnefeld Sr. told the Baltimore Sun. "In those days, we didn't have all the navigational tools we have now; it was all done by celestial navigation and dead reckoning. And what he did was a marvelous piece of navigation." From 1962 to 1964, Adm. McNitt was assigned to the Naval Academy, where he played a major role in revising thecurriculum and hiring the first academic dean. One year after retiring from active service in 1971, Adm. McNitt was appointed the first civilian dean of admissions at the Naval Academy. In 1975, Congress passed a law that women be admitted to all the nation's service academies, and one of the highlights of Adm. McNitt's career was making sure that this was a seamless transition. Adm. McNitt said the admission committee carefully selected those they brought to Annapolis. "We have to be flexible in bringing them along," he told the Baltimore Evening Sun in 1980. "We don't want to lose a potential leader. .?.?. This is where the Navy's leaders 30 years from now will come." Robert Waring McNitt was born July 29, 1915, in Perth Amboy, N.J., where his interest in boats and sailing began as a youngster. He was a 1938 graduate of the Naval Academy. He earned a master's degree in ordnance engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1947, then served two years aboard the aircraft carrier USS Midway as a gunnery officer. While working at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory at White Oak near Silver Spring in the 1950s, Adm. McNitt helped design some of the Navy's first underwater atomic weapons. During the Korean War, he commanded the destroyer USS Taylor. He later commanded NATO submarines and was superintendent of the Naval Postgraduate School at Monterey, Calif. His other decorations included the Distinguished Service Medal and the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. He also received two Distinguished Civilian Service Medals and, in 2003, the Naval Academy's Distinguished Graduate Award. Adm. McNitt's first wife, the former Barbara MacMurray, died in 1971. His second wife, Patricia Hicks Miller, whom he married in 1973, died in 2012. Survivors include four children from his first marriage, James A. McNitt and Douglas W. McNitt, both of Annapolis, Robert W. McNitt Jr. of Johnson City, Tenn., and Katherine M. Jensen of St. Paul, Minn.; four stepchildren, Patricia A. Miller of Sunnyvale, Calif., Lane Miller of Philadelphia, Peter H. Miller of Washington and Hope M. Heffelfinger of Edina, Minn.; three brothers; and 10 grandchildren. Rear Adm. McNitt was an outstanding polo player and sailor and was elected to the Intercollegiate Yacht Racing Association of North America Hall of Fame. He was the author of the book "Sailing at the U.S. Naval Academy." In his later years, he was a director of Annapolis Bank and Trust. He also won 14 gold medals in senior race-walking and skiing competitions. Matt Schudel contributed to this report.