Rear Admiral Christopher Raymond Perry Rodgers (4 November 1819 – 8 January 1892) was an officer in the United States Navy. He served in the Mexican–American War, the American Civil War, as superintendent of the Naval Academy, president of the United States Naval Institute, and commander-in-chief of the Pacific Squadron.
Biography
Background
Rodgers was born on 4 November 1819 in Brooklyn, New York, into a naval family. His father, George Washington Rodgers, was a Navy captain, who had commanded the brig Firefly during the War of 1812, and the brother of Commodore John Rodgers. Through his mother, Anna Maria Perry, his maternal grandfather was Captain Christopher Raymond Perry, and his uncles were the Commodores Oliver Hazard and Matthew Calbraith Perry. His family background all but ensured that both C.R.P. Rodgers and his younger brother George Washington Rodgers Jr., would join the Navy.
Early career
Rodgers was appointed midshipman on 5 October 1833, serving aboard the frigate in the Pacific Squadron in 1834–35, then in the sloop on the same station in 1836. He was stationed at the New York Navy Yard from 1837, receiving promotion to passed midshipman on 8 July that year.
In 1839–40 Rodgers served aboard the schooner on the coast of Florida, taking part in operations during the Second Seminole War, and also briefly commanded the 2-gun schooner Phoenix. Rodgers also saw action at the capture of Fort Pulaski in April 1862, before serving as captain of the flagship, the broadside ironclad at Charleston in 1863. Admiral Du Pont noted, "No language could overstate his services to his country and to myself." In March 1864 he recommissioned the screw sloop , on an independent assignment to capture Confederate ships, which took him to the Mediterranean, and around South America and across the Pacific to Singapore in pursuit of the commerce raider .
Post-war career
Rodgers was promoted to captain on 25 July 1866, Promoted to commodore on 28 August 1870, Achieving flag rank as a rear admiral on 14 June 1874, before a two-year tour as commander of the Pacific Squadron,
Rodgers was a member of the New York Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and was assigned insignia number 571.
Rear Admiral Rodgers died in Washington, D.C.