Rear Admiral Charles A. Curtze USN RIP

[Kyt]

GoErie.com: Erie admiral remembered for career, character

Retired Rear Admiral Charles A. Curtze, an Erie native who died Wednesday at the age of 96, had a hand in some major events in American history.

Among them, he played a key role in salvaging a major ship during the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.

"That was a heroic thing," said David Frew, former executive director of the Erie County Historical Society.

That accomplishment is highlighted in a tribute to Curtze at the Admiral Charles A. Curtze Maritime Hall at Erie History Museum, 419 State St.

Frew, who helped put together the exhibit several years ago, told how Curtze was working as a fleet safety officer on the light cruiser USS St. Louis when the bombing attack began.

Curtze helped guide the cruiser safely out of the harbor. It was the only major ship to escape that day, and it became the stalwart as the Pacific Fleet was rebuilt after the bombing.

Frew, an author and professor emeritus at Gannon University, characterized Curtze as a "hard-working, generous, solid guy."

"He did some absolutely unbelievable and incredible things," he said.

Curtze graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1933 and later earned a master's degree in naval construction at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

An accomplished gymnast, he qualified for the 1936 Olympics in Munich, Germany, but security concerns over Adolf Hitler caused the State Department to prevent his participation.

He eventually was commander of the San Francisco Naval Yard, becoming rear admiral.

His naval career ended in 1965 when he retired from his position of Deputy Chief of the Bureau of Ships in Washington, D.C., in a disagreement over the handling of the Vietnam War.

During his retirement, he designed and commissioned his sailing yacht, Thule, in Germany, which was completed in 1970. He and his wife sailed it back to the U.S., and it was berthed at the Erie Yacht Club.

"He loved that boat," Frew said.

Curtze was a longtime member of the Yacht Club, where members remember him fondly.

Eric Marshall, a retired U.S. Navy captain, said the Thule reflected Curtze's attention to detail.

"He had a backup system for a backup system," he said. "It was a boat I think only he understood. It was a wonderful sailboat."

Marshall said he had known Curtze through their memberships in the Yacht Club and also while he served as president of the Erie Council of the Navy League. Curtze served on the council's board of directors during some of that time.

"He was always striving for perfection," he said.

Richard Loesel, a former commodore at the Yacht Club, recalled the days in which Curtze served as a "sea scout" on his father's boat, the Spray.

"He probably was the most thorough person I ever met," he said.

He said the Thule, for example, had three watertight doors, "which is unheard of for a yacht."

Loesel, who is a retired naval captain, said Curtze had a disagreement with then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara over the Vietnam War, and retired.

If he hadn't retired, Loesel said, Curtze would have risen higher in the ranks.

"He was one smart man," Loesel said.

Doug Pomorski, director of operations of the Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority, was a dockmaster at the Yacht Club in the late 1970s and 1980s when he met Curtze.

Pomorski said Curtze "was a real gentleman. He just treated you like a real person. He treated everyone like that."

[Antipodean Andy]

A real man of the sea.