|
|
|
|
|
|
Rear
Admiral Wayne E. Meyer, 1943-1985
|
|
Admiral Meyer began his career in 1943 as an apprentice seaman. He was commissioned Ensign, U.S. Naval Reserve, in 1946 and was transferred to Regular Navy in 1948. He attended the Joint Guided Missile School in Fort Bliss, Texas, the Naval Line School in Monterey, California, eventually serving as an instructor at the Special (atomic) Weapons School, Norfolk, Virginia. He returned to sea as Executive Officer in STRICKLAND (DER-333), followed by service on the Staff, Commander, Destroyer Force, Atlantic. He was then ordered to the TALOS cruiser GALVESTON (CLG-3) and from there to the Secretary of the Navy's Special Task Force for Surface Missile Systems in Washington, D.C. He transferred to the Naval Ordnance Engineering Corps in 1966. In 1967, he reported as Director of Engineering at the Naval Ship Missile Systems Engineering Station, Port Hueneme, California and three years later to the Naval Ordnance Systems Command, as Manager, AEGIS Weapons System. He was named Project Manager for Surface Missile Systems in 1972 and in July 1974, he was named the first Director of Surface Warfare, Naval Sea Systems Command. He was selected for Admiral in January 1975. In July 1975, he assumed duties as the founding Project Manager, AEGIS Shipbuilding. In September 1983, he was reassigned as Deputy Commander, Weapons and Combat Systems, Naval Sea Systems Command. He has been called “Father of AEGIS”. He helped to revolutionize the Navy from rotating radars in antiaircraft gunnery to the use of the Navy’s first 360 degree track system for missile employment. He managed all efforts to automate and integrate detection, tracking, classifying, and launching anti air missiles against enemy missiles through the development of the SPY-1 phased array radar, the MK 1 Command and Decision System, and the SM-2 missile. For the first fifteen years of the Navy’s surface to air missile effort, he pioneered and lead the surface Navy’s missile weapons system development and ensured total ship integration with the first AEGIS cruiser (Ticonderoga) and first AEGIS destroyer (Arleigh Burke), working at the Naval Ship Missile Systems Engineering Station Port Hueneme, as Director of Surface Warfare at NAVESEASSYSCOM, and finally as Deputy Commander for Weapons and Systems at NAVSEASYSCOM. Meyer's philosophy of "Build a Little, Test a Little, Learn a Lot" is still used in today’s ongoing testing in the BMD arena. Awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal. |
Surface Navy Association
26551 Loisdale Court, Suite 222,
Springfield, VA 22150
navysna@aol.com