Newton A. McCully

Who was Newton A. McCully?

Vice Admiral Newton Alexander McCully was an officer in the United States Navy.

McCully, the son of Newton A. and Caroline Fretwell McCully, was born on 19 June 1867 in Anderson, South Carolina and attended the United States Naval Academy.

As a Lieutenant Commander, McCully served as a military observer embedded within the Imperial Russian Army during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, arriving at the front lines in Manchuria via the Trans-Siberian Railway. He returned to the United States in 1906, and submitted a long report on his findings. After the end of the war, McCully served as executive officer on the cruiser USS California . He was assigned to the staff of the Naval War College in 1910. In 1914, McCully returned to Russia as a naval attaché. In 1918, as a rear admiral, he was placed in command of United States Navy forces in northern Russia, and in 1919 was sent to south Russia on an intelligence mission, to join the Whites and report on the strength of the Bolsheviks and their potential threat.

McCully served in various assignments in the early 1920s, and served as the Commander of the Scouting Fleet until 1924 when he became the chief of the American naval mission in Brazil. By 1928 McCully was the Commandant of the Charleston Navy Yard. He went into retirement in 1931.