Hustvedt was born in
Chicago,
Illinois, on 23 June 1886 to Norwegian immigrant parents. He graduated from the
United States Naval Academy in 1909. Among his classmates were
Alan G. Kirk,
Jesse B. Oldendorf, and
Theodore S. Wilkinson. His first tour of duty was aboard the
armored cruiser , in which he cruised from the
United States West Coast to many ports in
East Asia. He then attended
George Washington University in
Washington, D.C., from which he received a
Master of Science degree in 1914. In 1914, Hustvedt reported for duty aboard the
battleship . In 1916, he became a member of the staff of Commander, Battleship Division 6.
World War I During World War I, Hustvedt served aboard the battleship before transferring in 1918 to the battleship as
Oklahoma gunnery officer. Both battleships saw service in
European waters during the war, with
New York operating with other American battleships of
Battleship Division 9 as the
6th Battle Squadron of the
Royal Navy's
Grand Fleet and with
Oklahoma seeing service escorting
Allied convoys.
Interwar with other
officers aboard the
decommissioned battleship in September 1921 just before
Alabama was expended in
aerial bombing trials. In 1919, Hustvedt became Chief of the Experimental Division at the U.S. Navy's
Bureau of Ordnance in Washington, D.C. During his tour, he was among the U.S. Navy observers of
United States Army Air Service Brigadier General Billy Mitchell's
bombing demonstrations against
decommissioned American battleships in the
Chesapeake Bay in September 1921. He also played a role in giving rocket pioneer Dr.
Robert Goddard his first U.S. government contract and approved a contract for
Carl Norden to work on the famous
Norden bombsight for the Navy. Hustvedt was promoted to
lieutenant commander in 1921, when he became
commanding officer of the light
minelayer . In 1924 he returned to the Bureau of Ordnance. He was assigned to the battleship in 1927, then transferred in 1928 to the battleship as the gunnery officer of a battleship division of the
Battle Fleet. He moved on in 1930 to duty at the
Naval Gun Factory at the
Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. in full dress uniform in 1939.
Royal E. Ingersoll (left) aboard at
Newport,
Rhode Island, while serving as Ingersoll's chief of staff in February 1942. In 1933, Hustvedt was promoted to
commander and became
executive officer of the
heavy cruiser , then moved to the staff of the
Chief of Naval Operations in Washington, D.C., in 1935. In 1938 he was promoted to
captain and took command of the
light cruiser . In 1939 he joined the staff of the Commander,
Battle Force,
United States Fleet,
Admiral James O. Richardson, serving aboard Richardson's
flagship, the battleship , as Richardson's
operations officer before reporting to the
New York Navy Yard in
Brooklyn,
New York, to oversee the
fitting out of the new battleship . He became
North Carolina first commanding officer upon her
commissioning on 9 April 1941. On 23 October 1941, Hustvedt became chief of staff for the Commander-in-Chief,
United States Atlantic Fleet, Admiral
Ernest J. King. At some point during the interwar period, Hustvedt attended the
Naval War College.
World War II Atlantic Theater After the
United States entered
World War II on 8 December 1941, Hustvedt remained King's chief of staff until King became Commander-in-Chief,
United States Fleet, on 30 December 1941, then continued his duties as chief of staff for the Atlantic Fleet when Vice Admiral
Royal E. Ingersoll became the Fleet's commander-in-chief on 1 January 1942. Hustvedt remained Ingersoll's chief of staff until 8 May 1943, when he was promoted to
rear admiral and became Commander, Battleships, Atlantic Fleet. In his new assignment, Hustvedt, with the heavy cruiser as his flagship, also commanded a U.S. Navy
task force centered around the battleships and which operated with the
Royal Navy's
Home Fleet from the Home Fleet's base at
Scapa Flow in the
Orkney Islands, cruising along the coast of
Norway in the hope of luring the
German battleship
Tirpitz out into a battle from her base in a Norwegian
fjord.
Tirpitz did not come out, and the American battleships departed in August 1943 for the
Pacific Theater for operations against the
Japanese. Hustvedt remained with the U.S. Navy forces at Scapa Flow. In October 1943 in
Operation Leader, an
Allied task force under the command of British Admiral
Bruce Fraser made up of the British battleships and , three British
cruisers, six British destroyers, and Hustvedt's U.S. Navy force consisting of the
aircraft carrier ,
Tuscaloosa, and a destroyer division, approached the coast of Norway with a goal of conducting air raids against German shipping at the port of
Bodø.
Ranger aircraft made two attacks on 4 October 1943, the first one damaging two German ships in a
convoy in the
North Sea before continuing to Bodø and sinking two small German
merchant ships there in exchange for the loss of two aircraft, while the second strike sank a large merchant ship and a small coastal merchantman at Bodø and forced another large
cargo ship to beach herself with heavy damage, losing three planes in the process. When three German aircraft later approached the Allied task force in the North Sea,
Ranger combat air patrol immediately shot two of them down. Hustvedt commented that Operation Leader had demonstrated that Royal Navy and U.S. Navy ships and aircraft could operate together with "effectiveness, mutual understanding, and complete cooperation."
Pacific Theater Hustvedt soon transferred to the Pacific, where on 1 November 1943 he took command of Battleship Division 7, consisting of the Navy's two newest battleships, , which served as Hustvedt's flagship, and . Hustvedt's first major Pacific action was
Operation Flintlock, the American invasion of the
Marshall Islands in January and February 1944, during which Battleship Division 7 was part of the escort of
Task Group 58.3 (Carrier Task Group 3). During Flintlock, Hustvedt participated in
Operation Hailstone, a U.S. Navy combined surface and air attack on the major Japanese base at
Truk Atoll on 17–18 February 1944. Detached from Task Group 50.3, his two battleships served as the center of Task Force 50.9 when it conducted a cruise around Truk under the command of Admiral
Raymond A. Spruance on 17 February to intercept Japanese ships fleeing U.S. Navy airstrikes against the
atoll. Late in the morning that day, a lone Japanese
Mitsubishi A6M Zero (
Allied reporting name "Zeke") dropped a bomb close aboard
Iowa alongside the
bridge wing where Hustvedt was eating lunch; his reaction was simply to say "That was
my bomb" and continue eating. His two battleships went on to cripple the Japanese destroyer
Maikaze – which was finished off by accompanying heavy cruisers – and to straddle the Japanese destroyer
Nowaki at the extreme range of 34,000 to 39,000 yards (10,363 to 11,887 meters), although
Nowaki escaped without damage and managed to fire a
torpedo which passed close to
New Jersey across her bow. Hustvedt also commanded Battleship Division 7 during the
Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944. During the action, his two battleships were among those assigned to Vice Admiral
Willis A. Lee's Task Group 58.7 (Battle Line), which served as an
antiaircraft screen against Japanese aircraft attempting to overfly the battleships on their way to strike at the American aircraft carrier force. Admiral Spruance, in overall command, canceled his original plan to send the battleships forward in pursuit of the Japanese fleet after the virtual destruction of Japanese air power in the area, so no surface engagement took place.
Later career Later in 1944, Hustvedt returned to Washington, D.C., where he became a member of the
General Board of the United States Navy on 24 October 1944. He served in this capacity until he retired from the Navy in 1946, being promoted to vice admiral upon retirement. Hustvedt's career as a battleship officer had been a promising one and he had a good reputation prior to World War II. The rise of the aircraft carrier to dominance in naval warfare during that war left him with little opportunity to demonstrate his capabilities as a combat leader and prevented his possible emergence as a major World War II naval commander. ==Awards==