Captain Frank M. Adamson USN
"The Skipper"
Captain Frank M. Adamson, USN, relieved Capt James E. Cohn, USN, as commanding officer of the USS Helena on June 11, 1954, at Long Beach, Calif.
Captain Adamson came to the Helena after serving as commanding officer of the USS Okanogan (APA 220).
Prior to World War II Captain Adamson received regular Navy training as a junior officer, with emphasis on gunnery and communications. A 1929 graduate of the Naval Academy, he won a Rhodes scholarship and earned a BA degree from Trinity College at Oxford in 1933. He was awarded a MA degree from Oxford four years later.
From January, 1941, to February, 1944, the Captain served on destroyers, assuming at various times the duties of navigator, executive officer and commanding officer. For his "meritorious service as commanding officer of the USS Bache in action against enemy Japanese forces in Aleutian waters and South Pacific area from May 10, 1943, to February 15, 1944," Captain (then Commander) Adamson was awarded the bronze star medal. Earlier for his work as a convoy escort commander in the Atlantic, he was awarded the commendation ribbon.
He closed out World War II and began the post-war years while on the staff of Commander Training Command, Pacific Fleet.
Command of the USS Kankakee (AO 39) was his next assignment.
During the following two and a half years (1948-50), he was a member of the Joint Strategic Plans Group of the Joint Sraff of Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington. Then followed a year of instruction at the Naval War College at Newport, R. I.
The Captain's last duty prior to the Okanogan was on the staff of ComServPac as Force Operations Officer and Force Training Officer.
Captain Adamson is married and has three children, Elizabeth, Frank, Jr., and Marie Louise. His home is in Lead, South Dakota.
(This short bio was copied from the USS Helena CA-75 1954 cruise book)