Wat Tyler Cluverius, Jr.

Who was Wat Tyler Cluverius, Jr.?

Wat Tyler Cluverius, Jr. was an admiral in the United States Navy and president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. When he died, he was the last surviving officer of the sinking of the USS Maine.

An 1896 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Cluverius joined the crew of the USS Maine in 1897 and was on board when the ship suffered an explosion in Havana Harbor in 1898. The sinking of the Maine helped precipitate the Spanish–American War, a war in which Cluverius participated on a number of ships including USS Scorpion. During the Philippine–American War he served in the on the USS Solace. In 1914, he took part in the United States occupation of Veracruz, commanding a battalion of bluejackets from the battleship USS North Dakota. During World War I he commanded the minelayer USS Shawmut, laying the anti-submarine mine barrage across the North Sea, for which he was awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.

Cluverius was Commandant of Midshipmen at the Naval Academy from 1919 to 1921, and attended the Naval War College from 1921 to 1922. He was aide to the Secretary of the Navy, Curtis D. Wilbur.