TAPS: Admiral Harry D. Train Passes Away at Age 98

Admiral Harry D. Train II, a distinguished U.S. Navy officer, dedicated public servant, and devoted family man— and father to Rear Admiral Liz Train, passed away at the age of 98. From 1978 to 1982, he served as Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic, Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Atlantic Command, and Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, playing a vital role in Cold War naval strategy. Notably, his father, Rear Admiral Harry C. Train, was Director of the Office of Naval Intelligence in 1942-1943. 

Official Obituary

The following is provided by RADM Sam Cox, Director of Navy History and Heritage Command:

It is with deep regret I inform you of the passing of Admiral Harry Depue Train II, U.S. Navy (Retired) on 31 July 2026 at age 97.  ADM Train entered the U.S. Naval Academy in June 1945 and served as a Submarine and Surface Warfare Officer until his retirement in October 1982 as Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic/Commander-in-Chief U.S. Atlantic Command/Commander-in-Chief U.S. Atlantic Fleet.  His commands included USS BARBEL (SS-580,) USS CONYNHAM (DDG-17,) Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla EIGHT/USS JOHN F. KENNEDY Battle Group, and SIXTH Fleet/Striking Force Southern Europe.

Harry D. Train was the son of Rear Admiral Harold Cecil Train, who had been commanding officer of battleship USS ARIZONA (BB-39) in 1940-1941, and at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor was Chief of Staff for the Battle Force under Vice Admiral William S. Pye, embarked on battleship USS CALIFORNIA (BB-44.)  Then-Captain Train gave the order for battleship USS NEVADA (BB-36) not to attempt to exit the harbor and risk being sunk in the channel.  Following time on the staff of Admiral Chester Nimitz, Rear Admiral Train served as the Director of the Office of Naval Intelligence in 1942-1943.  He was then Commandant of the 15th Naval District in the Panama Canal Zone, finishing the war on the Joint Post-War Committee of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, responsible for developing post-war security structures, such as the United Nations.

Harry D. Train entered the U.S. Naval Academy on 19 June 1945 by way of Georgetown Preparatory School.  He was a center on the Naval Academy football team, including during the noteworthy 1948 21-21 tie with Army (coming in to the game, Navy was 0-8 and Army was 8-0.)  Midshipman Train graduated on 3 June 1949 with a Bachelor of Science in Naval Science and was commissioned an ensign the same day.

Ensign Train then immediately reported to Norfolk-based destroyer USS HAROLD J. ELLISON (DD-864,) serving as Gunnery Officer for operations in the Arctic, followed by a deployment to the Mediterranean, with port visits in Beirut, Istanbul and Trieste.  With the outbreak of the Korean War, Ensign Train was reassigned to destroyer USS HARRY E. HUBBARD (DD-748) in September 1950, serving as First Lieutenant as the ship was being reactivated from reserve status, with re-commissioning on 27 October 1950.  HARRY E. HUBBARD deployed from San Diego on 2 January 1951 to the Korean War zone, where the destroyer screened the carriers of Task Force 77 and conducted numerous gunfire missions along the coast of North Korea.   Selected for submarine duty, ENS Train detached in May 1951 while the ship still deployed, proceeding for duty under instruction at the Submarine School, Navy Submarine Base, New London.  He was promoted to lieutenant (junior grade) on 3 June 1951.

In December 1951, Lieutenant (junior grade) Train was assigned to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, New Hampshire as part of the pre-commissioning crew for diesel-electric submarine USS WAHOO (SS-565.)  Upon commissioning on 30 May 1952, LTJG Train served as Engineer under commanding officer Commander Eugene P. Wilkinson, who would go on the be the first commanding officer of the first nuclear-powered submarine in the world, USS NAUTILUS (SSN-571.) Following shakedown in the British West Indies, WAHOO departed Portsmouth for Pearl Harbor via the Panama Canal.  WAHOO deployed to the Far East in January 1954 for six months.  LTJG Train was promoted to lieutenant on 2 July 1954.  WAHOO subsequently visited Tahiti in March 1955, before deploying again to the Western Pacific for six months in November 1955-May 1956.

In January 1956, Lieutenant Train reported as a student to the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.  He was reassigned in November 1956 to the Joint Secretariat, Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, serving as the Assistant Military Secretary to the J-2 Intelligence Directorate.  In December 1958, LT Train assumed duty as Executive Officer/Training Officer for GUPPY IIA conversion submarine USS ENTEMEDOR (SS-340,) based in New London, deploying to the Mediterranean.  He was promoted to lieutenant commander on 1 June 1959. (GUPPY = Greater Underwater Propulsion Power Program.)

In June 1960, Lieutenant Commander Train reported to the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington DC as Assistant Submarine Placement Officer, Submarine Placement Section, Officer Placement Branch.  During this period he reportedly resisted efforts by then-Vice Admiral Hyman Rickover to draft him into the Navy nuclear power program.  In May 1962, LCDR Train assumed command of the relatively new tear-drop hull conventional submarine USS BARBEL (SS-580,) capable of underwater speed significantly faster than previous classes of submarines, which in one case resulted in a serious control problem that LCDR Train was able to compensate for and prevent an accident.  In July 1962, BARBEL shifted homeport from San Diego to Pearl Harbor before conducting a Western Pacific deployment in September 1962 to March 1963.  He was promoted to commander on 1 February 1964.  (History note: although CDR Train had detached, in February 1966, BARBEL accidentally rammed and sank North Vietnam’s largest freighter, thereby making BARBEL only one of two U.S. submarines to sink an enemy ship since the end of WW2.)

In July 1964, Commander Train was assigned to the Office of the Secretary of the Navy (then Paul Nitze) as Military Assistant to the Executive Assistant and Senior Aide (Captain Elmo Zumwalt) to the Secretary.  In April 1965, CDR Train assumed duty in the immediate office of the Secretary of the Navy as Administrative Aide to the Secretary.

Apparently without benefit of a training track, CDR Train assumed command of Charles F. Adams-class guided-missile destroyer USS CONYNGHAM (DDG-17) in October 1967 deploying to the Mediterranean in December 1967 to April 1968.  He was promoted to captain on 1 August 1968.

In December 1968, Captain Train reported to the Commander of U.S. SECOND Fleet in Norfolk as Assistant Chief of Staff (ACOS) Operations and Readiness, with additional duty in the same position on the staff of Commander (NATO) Striking Fleet Atlantic.  In September 1969, CAPT Train was reassigned to Washington DC as Executive Assistant and Senior Aide to the Chief of Naval Operations, ADM Thomas H. Moorer.  When ADM Moorer became Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in July 1970, he brought CAPT Train with him as Executive Assistant and Senior Aide.

On 15 September 1971, CAPT Train was designated a rear admiral for duty in a billet commensurate with that rank.  The same month he assumed command of Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla EIGHT during which he was in command of the USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CVA-67) Battle Group, deploying to the North Atlantic, followed by deployment to the Mediterranean in December 1971 to October 1972 for what might be termed a “classic Med deployment” with port visits to Naples, Barcelona, Athens, Corfu, Thessaloniki, Rhodes, Genoa, Cannes and Palma de Mallorca.  However much of this inport time is attributable to the severe budget crunch that began to adversely affect fleet operations during this period, and set against a backdrop of ever-increasing capability of the Soviet Fifth Eskadra (Soviet opposite number to the U.S. SIXTH Fleet.)

RADM Train was promoted to Rear Admiral on 1 July 1972, and assigned to the Office of the Assistant Secretary Of Defense (OASD) International Security Affairs (ISA) as Director, East Asia and Pacific Region.  In January 1973 he assumed duty as Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense Elliot Richardson.  This tour was brief, as Richardson left after only four months.  RADM Train then served briefly in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations as Assistant Director, Strategic Plans and Policy Division (OP60B) and then as Director, Systems Analysis Division (OP96.) 

In May 1974, RADM Train was assigned to the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as Director of the Joint Staff, with additional duty as Head of the U.S. Incidents at Sea Delegation to the Soviet Union (the INCSEA agreement had been signed in May 1972.)  He was designated a vice admiral on 1 July 1974 for duties in a billet commensurate with that rank.

In August 1976, VADM Train assumed command of U.S. SIXTH Fleet, homeported in Gaeta, Italy, and embarked on guided-missile cruiser USS ALBANY (CG-10) with additional duty as Commander (NATO) Striking Force Southern Europe.  This included a period of rising tensions as well as delicate diplomacy.  Although the Camp David Accords were signed near the end of this tour, reducing the prospect of another war between Israel and Egypt, terrorist attacks were on the rise, including the abduction and assassination of former Italian Prime Minster Aldo Moro by the Red Brigade, as well as a brief war between Egypt and Libya, and full-fledged civil war in Lebanon, and the ever-present Soviet forces in the Mediterranean, during a period of very strained U.S. Navy resources and funding.

On 1 October 1978, VADM Train was designated an admiral (four star) for duty in a billet commensurate with the rank.  He then relieved Admiral Isaac C. Kidd as Commander-in-Chief Atlantic/Commander-in-Chief U.S. Atlantic Fleet/Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic.  ADM Train would be the second-to-last to hold all three positions before the Fleet would be separated from the Joint Theater Combatant Command and NATO Allied Command functions.  In addition to the above, ADM Train was also Commander-in-Chief (NATO) Western Atlantic Area (CINCWESTLANT) and Commander (NATO) Ocean Sea Sub-Area, Atlantic. 

ADM Train retired on 1 October 1982.

ADM Train’s awards include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Navy Distinguished Service Medal (four awards,) Legion of Merit (four awards,) Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal (two awards,) Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Occupation Service Medal (Europe,) National Defense Service Medal (two awards,) Korean Service Medal, Korean Presidential Unit Citation and United Nations Service Medal.  Foreign awards include the following; France – Legion of Honor.  Portugal – Order of Christ.  Netherlands – Order of Orange-Nassau.  Tunisia – Order of the Republic. Chile – Order of the President of the Republic.  Germany – Order of Merit.  Mexico – Order of Special Merit.  Brazil – Order of Naval Merit.  Columbia – Order of Admiral Padilla.  Uruguay – Naval Order of Commandante Pedro Campbell.

Upon retiring from active duty, ADM Train first hiked the entire 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine, before engaging in numerous activities of benefit to the U.S. Navy and U.S. Military.  Some of these include academic advisory boards such as the Curriculum Advisory Board of the U.S. Naval Academy; Academic Advisory Board for Naval Postgraduate School; and Board of Academic Advisors of the NATO Defense College in Rome.  He also served on government commissions including in 1994-95 as Chairman of the Governor of Virginia’ Commission on Base Retention and Defense Conversion and in 1995-1996 as a Member of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Information Warfare Defense.  He was a commissioner on the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century and was founder and president of Future of Hampton Roads. He was a Senior Fellow with the CAPSTONE Flag and General Officer’s Course, National Defense University in1982-1997 and a Senior Fellow with the Joint and Combined Warfighting School, Armed Forces Staff College (AFSC) for many years after 1994.   He served as a Mentor, Defense Science Studies Group and was a Professor of Military Professionalism in the Henry Clay Hofheimer Chair of Military Professionalism, AFSC in 1986.  He served on numerous boards related to U.S. Defense and cancer research, to include time on the Board of Trustees, Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA) and the Board of Trustees of Old Dominion University Research Foundation.  He was the founder, president and member of the board of Strategic Research and Management Services, Inc., providing wargaming, seminar gaming and analyses, threat assessment and policy planning from 1983-1989 (until the company was sold to Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and he subsequently continued Manager of SAIC Hampton Roads operations.)

Admiral Train’s illustrious career needs little elaboration from me.  His career does suggest that it is great leadership that truly matters, more than a standard cookie-cutter career path, which his was certainly not.  I have no insight in why he resisted Admiral Rickover’s overtures to enter the nuclear power program and instead continuing in what was by then considered a dead-end in conventional submarines, although by his account command of BARBEL was a whale of a good time, despite nearly losing control once in a very high-speed turn.  Perhaps it was a case of right place right time (but doing impressively well at the right place and time) that got him command of a DDG, and his career was off to the races after that.  He held major commands during some of the most challenging times in the U.S. Navy since the 1949 “Revolt of the Admirals” period.  In the post-Vietnam period, all resource and readiness indicators were going the wrong way, but one thing that was going up was the increasing capability, numbers and operational tempo of the Soviet Navy.  He was one of the last two people to have concurrent command of NATO Supreme Allied Command Atlantic, U.S. Atlantic Command and the Atlantic Fleet, a truly breath-taking span of responsibility charged with deterring and winning a hot war in the Atlantic with the Soviet Union (and at the time, about the only difference between a cold war and hot war at sea was actually pulling the trigger…both Navies were in each other's face every day.)  This necessitated another of his major accomplishments in turning the U.S./U.S.S.R Incidents at Sea (INCSEA) Agreement from a piece of paper into a process that actually worked, thereby preventing dangerous and inadvertent clashes at sea.  Admiral Train was quoted as saying, “I was absolutely steeped in Navy from my first conscious thoughts” and “I can’t remember a day in my entire life that the Navy was not a dominant element in my life.”  To this day, the U.S. Navy benefits from his extraordinary devotion to duty.  We have lost a giant.

Of note, ADM Train was the father of RADM Elizabeth “Liz” Train, who relieved me as Commander of the Office of Naval Intelligence in 2013.

Funeral services will be at the U.S. Naval Academy at a date to be determined.

Rest in Peace Admiral Train