FDR identified with the Navy long before he became Asst. Sec. of the Navy. That position (held in the past by his distant cousin Teddy Roosevelt) was very different in power and prestige than what we know it today. FDR had a huge collection of naval books, manuscripts, prints, paintings and over 200 ship models. His initial interest in the sea services came from both his father James Roosevelt an avid yachtsman and his mother’s seafaring family the Delano’s who used their great clipper ships out of Fairhaven, Mass., to make their fortune in the China trade.

FDR tried twice to resign his Asst. Secretaries's position and join the USMC during WW1 but the idea was vetoed by Pres. Woodrow Wilson and Navy Secretary Josephus Daniel’s. However, he did visit the very front lines in France and was the inspiration and energy behind the American anti-submarine mine barrage between Scotland and Norway.

FDR’s renown as a superb seaman was attested to by none other than ‘Commander’ William Halsey Jr. who quietly observed while Franklin took command of the bridge of his destroyer and navigated through the fog, currents, rocks and shoals of the Bay of Fundy to the family summer home at Campobello, New Brunswick. Halsey shook his head in wonderment and said, “he never saw a nicer trick”.