Neptune's Needle

Naval engineer and naval officer.

Cone’s early training and education were at East Florida Military and Agricultural College, from which he graduated in 1889. In September 1890 Cone was appointed a naval cadet at the U.S. Naval Academy. During his four-year course at the Naval Academy, he was vice president of his class, and he opted for training as an engineer cadet his senior year. After graduation from the academy in June 1894, Cone served as a passed engineer cadet on the USS Atlanta and was commissioned an assistant engineer on 10 June 1896. Between June 1894 and May 1901, when he was ordered to the Naval Torpedo Station for instruction, Cone served on eight ships, including the USS Baltimore during Commodore George Dewey's victory over the Spanish at the battle of Manila Bay in 1898.

In 1897 the Personnel Board, under the chairmanship of Assistant Navy Secretary Theodore Roosevelt, recognized the increasing technological complexity of the 1890s navy. According to Roosevelt, "On the modern war vessel, every officer has to be an engineer." The result was the Amalgamation Act of 1899, which combined engineering officers, like Cone, with the seagoing line officer branch of the navy. The rank of assistant engineer was abolished, and Cone was commissioned an ensign in March 1899. Cone was assigned to torpedo boat duty, and he advanced to the rank of lieutenant in 1902 and commanded the torpedo boat Dale in 1903. In 1907 he commanded the Second Torpedo Flotilla and escorted the battleships of the North Atlantic Squadron to the West Coast via the Straits of Magellan. He was personally commended by President Roosevelt for his leadership and seamanship in shepherding his tiny ships around South America. Cone was promoted to lieutenant commander in 1908 and was selected to serve as fleet engineer of the Atlantic Fleet during the circumnavigating cruise of the Great White Fleet.

Cone's service as fleet engineer brought him to prominence. Rear Admiral C. S. Sperry, the fleet commander, recommended Cone for the next four-year term as engineer in chief of the navy and chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering. The selection of an officer of such relatively junior rank and age was without precedent. Cone's appointment began on 18 May 1909 and carried with it the temporary rank of rear admiral. As engineer in chief, he supervised the shift from coal to oil fuel to increase the operational radius of the navy in the vast expanse of the strategically important Pacific. He was also involved in the trials of the turbo-electric propulsion system touted by the General Electric Company's William Le Roy Emmet. This system demonstrated many advantages, such as greatly increased fuel economy and smaller size and weight. When the 1916 Naval Act authorized ten superdreadnought battleships and six battlecruisers, the turbo-electric propulsion system was adopted for the new ships.

At the completion of his term as engineer in chief, Cone reverted back to his regular rank of lieutenant commander and became executive officer of the battleship Utah. He was promoted to commander in July 1913 and commanded the USS Dixie from April 1914 until July 1915, when he became marine superintendent of the Panama Canal. In September 1917 Cone was assigned to U.S. naval forces in Europe and commanded U.S. Naval Aviation Forces, Foreign Service. In October 1918 the British mail ship Leinster, on which Cone was a passenger, was torpedoed. While he was cutting away life rafts, a second torpedo exploded directly underneath Cone. He was rescued after spending two hours in the sea, suffering from compound fractures of his legs and internal injuries. After recovering from his wounds, he became a student at the Naval War College in June 1919. He graduated in 1920 and was promoted to captain, then took command of the battleship South Dakota in the Philippines. Cone returned to the United States and retired on 1 July 1922 as "engineer-in-chief, with rank of rear admiral" according to a provision of law relating to officers wounded in wartime.

After retiring from the navy, Cone accepted a position with the Panama Railway Steamship Company. He soon resigned to accept a government appointment as assistant to the president of the U.S. Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation. He advanced to general manager and vice president of the corporation before resigning in November 1925 to become vice president and treasurer of the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics. Cone concentrated on the development of commercial aviation through 1928, when he resigned to accept an invitation from President Calvin Coolidge for a six-year term on the U.S. Shipping Board. Cone worked to expand the U.S. merchant marine, serving with this organization after its incorporation into the Department of Commerce until his resignation in March 1935.

Cone's retirement in Washington, D.C., was brief. He accepted the chair of the board of directors of the Moore-McCormick Lines and oversaw efforts to expand their shipping operations to South America.

Cone was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his command of naval air forces in Europe during the First World War along with various service and campaign medals. He was also an officer of the Legion of Honor (France), honorary commander of the Order of the British Empire for his lifesaving actions during the sinking of the RMS Leinster, recipient of the Distinguished Service Order (Britain), and Cross of Officer of the Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus and the Order of Mariziane, both from the Italian government. He died in Orlando, Florida.

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Peter Richards