Albert D. Sturtevant

Albert Dillon Sturtevant (2 May 1894 – 15 February 1918) was an officer in the United States Navy during World War I.

Sturtevant was born in Washington, D.C.. On 24 March 1917, he and 28 others enlisted in the Naval Reserve Forces as the First Yale Unit. Two days later, they were all commissioned ensigns. After flight training in Florida, he was designated a naval aviator on 1 May 1917 and, in September, he received orders for overseas duty. Ensign Sturtevant reported to the group attached to the Royal Flying Corps station at Felixstowe, England, in October.

Sturtevant's duties consisted of flying escort for merchantmen crossing the North Sea. On 15 February 1918, while flying an escort mission with another plane of his unit, the two aircraft were attacked by a flight of 10 German fighters. Sturtevant's companion recognized the hopelessness of the 5-to-1 odds and escaped to safety, but Sturtevant gamely fought it out with the enemy. When last seen, Ensign Sturtevant was hit and crippled, his aircraft falling toward the sea. For his heroic actions, he was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously.

Legacy
Two ships, the USS Sturtevant (DD-240), a Clemson-class destroyer, commissioned in 1920 and sunk by enemy action in April 1942, and the USS Sturtevant (DE-239), an Edsall-class destroyer escort, active between 1943 and 1960, have been named after him.