Aaron Ward (sailor)

Rear Admiral Aaron Ward (October 10, 1851 – July 5, 1918) was an officer in the United States Navy during the Spanish-American War.

Biography
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Ward entered the United States Naval Academy with the rank of midshipman on September 28, 1867, graduating on June 6, 1871.

He was ordered to the steam frigate California on the Pacific Squadron, and was promoted to ensign July 14, 1872. He next served in steam sloop USS Brooklyn (1858) in the West Indies from 1873 to 1874, before reporting to the screw frigate USS Franklin (1864) on the European Station, and was promoted to master on February 8, 1875.

Ward served a tour of duty at the Naval Academy from 1876 to 1879. Next he served with the USS Constitution training squadron in 1879 through 1882, receiving his commission as lieutenant on November 25, 1881.

Ward was occupied with various professional duties at the Naval Torpedo Station in Newport, Rhode Island, and the New York Navy Yard through 1885. From 1885 to 1888 he was stationed in the sloops USS Hartford (1858) and USS Monongahela (1862) on the Pacific Station. Between 1889 and 1894, Ward served as naval attaché in Paris, Berlin, and St. Petersburg. He sailed with armored cruiser USS New York (CA-2) in the West Indies and Brazil until 1894, and in protected cruiser USS San Francisco (C-5) in the Mediterranean through 1896.

During the Spanish-American War, Ward commanded the armed yacht USS Wasp (1898). Commended for gallantry, he was advanced to lieutenant commander on March 3, 1899, for conspicuous service at the Battle of Santiago de Cuba. He then commanded the auxiliary cruiser USS Panther (1889) for a year in the West Indies, followed by service as chief of staff to the Asiatic Squadron commander. From 1901 to 1908, Ward commanded the gunboats USS Yorktown (PG-1) and USS Don Juan de Austria, and then the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania (ACR-4), successively. He served for one year as supervisor of the harbor at New York before becoming an aide to the Secretary of the Navy in 1909. In 1910 Ward was promoted to rear admiral. In 1911 he became second in command of the Atlantic Fleet. Rear Admiral Ward retired on October 10, 1913.

He was a member of the General Society of Colonial Wars.

He died on July 5, 1918, and is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York City.