James D. Ramage

Who was James D. Ramage?

James D. "Jig Dog" Ramage was a naval aviator in World War II and a major factor in putting nuclear-capable aircraft aboard aircraft carriers. Before retirement he attained the rank of rear admiral.

A graduate of the United States Naval Academy class of 1939, he served on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise before being sent to the Naval Air Station Pensacola for flight training. He rejoined the Enterprise in 1943, and became executive officer, and later commanding officer of Bombing Squadron Ten, flying the SBD Dauntless dive bomber. He saw his first combat in the Battle of Kwajalein in January 1944, and participated in the attack on Truk in February and landings at Hollandia in April. During the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944, he led 12 Dauntlesses and 17 other aircraft from Enterprise in a maximum-range twilight attack against the Japanese fleet, and was personally credited with crippling a Japanese aircraft carrier, probably the Ryūhō. He later commanded Bombing Squadron Ninety-Eight, a California-based training unit.

After the war, Ramage attended the first postwar class at the Naval War College, where he wrote a thesis on nuclear weapons and carrier aviation.