RON THE "WAR HERO"
L. RON HUBBARD AND THE U.S. NAVY, 1941-50

3.1  The Navy's View

Unlike L. Ron Hubbard and his followers, the US Navy has consistently presented a clear view of what Hubbard did during his years in uniform. When Hubbard's file was first released to the public in 1986, the US Navy compiled the following summary of L. Ron Hubbard's service career in response to the many enquiries received:

The following information, releasable under the Freedom of Information Act,
has been extracted from Mr. Hubbard's personnel record:

COMPONENT      ACTIVE DUTY              INACTIVE DUTY

USNR-OFF                                19 JUL 41-21 SEP 41
USNR-OFF       22 SEP 41-06 OCT 41      07 OCT 41-23 NOV 41
USNR-OFF       24 NOV 41-16 FEB 46      17 FEB 46-30 OCT 50

06 OCT 1941  Honorably released from temporary active duty
16 FEB 1946  Honorably released from active duty
30 OCT 1950  Resignation accepted and honorably discharged from
             the naval service

Date of Birth:  13 March 1911
Place of Birth:  Tilden, Nebraska

PROMOTION HISTORY

19 JUL 1941  Lieutenant (junior grade), U.S. Naval Reserve
15 JUN 1942  Lieutenant, U.S. Naval Reserve

SHIPS AND STATIONS          PERIODS                DUTIES

Hydrographic Office,        22 SEP 41-06 OCT 41
 Bureau of Navigation,
 Washington, DC
Headquarters, THIRD         24 NOV 41-14 DEC 41    Under instruction
 Naval District
District Intelligence       15 DEC 41-17 DEC 41    Under instruction
 office, TWELFTH Naval
 District
Office of the Naval         18 DEC 41-02 APR 42    Intelligence
 Attache, American                                  Officer
 Legation, Melbourne,
 Australia
Headquarters, TWELFTH       03 APR 42-30 APR 42    Intelligence
 Naval District                                     Officer
Office of Cable             01 MAY 42-24 JUN 42    Intelligence
 Censor, New York, NY                               Officer
Lawley and Sons, Ship-      25 JUN 42-28 JUL 42    In connection
 building, Newport, MA                              with conversion
                                                    of USS YP-422
Naval Receiving Station,    29 JUL 42-01 NOV 42    Senior Watch
 Long Beach, Long Island,                           Officer
 NY
Submarine Chaser Training   02 NOV 42-02 JAN 43    Under instruction
 Center, Miami, FL
Fleet Sound School,         03-JAN 43-16 JAN 43    Student
 Key West, FL
Supervisor of Ships,        17 FAN 43-20 APR 43    Prospective CO/
 Portland, OR                                       OINC of fitting
                                                    out USS PC-815
USS PC-815                  21 APR 43-07 JUL 43    Commanding Officer
Headquarter, ELEVENTH       08-JUL 43-11 OCT 43    Temporary Duty in
 Naval District                                     the Issuing Office
Naval Small Craft           12 OCT 43-01 DEC 43    Under instruction
 Training Center,
 Terminal Island,
 San Pedro, CA
Supervisor of Ship-         02 DEC 43-01 DEC 43    In connection with
 building, Portland, OR                             fitting out USS
                                                    ALGOL (AKA-54)
                                                    and Navigator/
                                                    Training Off.
USS ALGOL (AKA-54)          22 JUL 44-28 SEP 44    Navigator/Train-
                                                    ing Off. Chief
                                                    Ship's Censor
Naval Training Schools,     29 SEP 44-27 JAN 45    Under instruction
 Princeton, NJ
Naval Civil Affairs,        28 JUN 45-04 SEP 45    Under instruction
 Staging Area, Presidio
 of Monterey, CA
Naval Hospital, Oakland,    05 SEP 45-04 DEC 45    Patient
 CA
Officer Separation          05 DEC 45-06 DEC 45    Separation
 Center, San Francisco,                             Processing and
 CA                                                 Detachment

MEDALS AND AWARDS

American Defense Service Medal
American Campaign Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal

PERSONAL DATA

Wife:      Louise [deleted] of Port Orchard, Washington
Children:  Lafayette R. Hubbard (Son)
           Born: [deleted]
           Catherine M. Hubbard (Daughter)
           Born: [deleted]
Education: George Washington University, Washington, DC
           (School of Engineering (2 years))

There is no record of any court-martial or other disciplinary action during
former Lieutenant Hubbard's military service.

Mr. Hubbard performed additional service in the Montana National Guard from
19 October 1927 to 28 October 1928 and in the United States Marine Corps
Reserve from 1 May 1930 to 22 October 1931.

                   Sincerely Yours,

                   R.A. DERR
                   Special Assistant for
                   Officer Correspondence
                   By direction of the Commander,
                   Naval Military Personnel Command

The Navy has never changed its story over Hubbard's career; nearly identical versions of this summary have been issued on request for at least fourteen years (though there are a few minor corrections between the first and the current versions). This is, of course, in marked contrast to the ever-shifting Scientology accounts.

A couple of items have been deleted by the censor for reasons of privacy (though in other copies of the same document released by the US Navy, the deleted details are still intact). It has to be said that there are a handful of minor errors - for instance, he is listed as having been an "intelligence officer" throughout his seven-week posting to the Office of the Cable Censor in 1942, although in fact this status had terminated on May 4, only four days after he had taken up that post. But as we shall see in the following account and analysis of Hubbard's Navy career, the basic accuracy of the official summary can be verified from those records and other corroborative evidence.

Source documents