Rear Adm. Eugene B. Fluckey; Commanded Submarine Attacks on Japanese Shipping

Adm. Fluckey sometimes violated Navy regulations by stashing cases of beer in the officers' shower. Whenever the Barb sank a ship, everyone on board was entitled to a cold beer, which endeared him to his crew.

In addition to the Medal of Honor and Navy Crosses (second only to the Medal of Honor), Adm. Fluckey received the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit and a host of lesser decorations. His greatest achievement, he often said, was that no one under his command ever received another well-known medal: the Purple Heart.

"He was absolutely confident and absolutely fearless, but fearless with good judgment," McNitt said. "He brought his ship and his people home."

Eugene Bennett Fluckey was born Oct. 5, 1913, and graduated from the District's Western High School when he was 15. After two years at a prep school, he enrolled at the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1935.

As a midshipman, he was nearsighted and knew he would have to leave the academy if he failed an eye exam. After studying optics, he designed a pair of glasses for himself and, with exercises, was able to restore his vision to 20-20.

He joined the submarine corps in 1938 and served in the Pacific before taking command of the Barb. After the war, he became the personal aide to Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, the chief of naval operations.

Later in his career, Adm. Fluckey served as director of naval intelligence and commanded amphibious units and the Navy's Pacific submarine force. He also headed the electrical engineering department at the Naval Academy and led a fundraising campaign for the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

In 1992, he wrote a dramatic account of his experiences as a submarine commander, "Thunder Below!" It won the Samuel Eliot Morison prize for naval history.

When Adm. Fluckey retired from the Navy in 1972, he was stationed in Lisbon as the naval attache to NATO. He continued to live in Portugal until 1979, when he moved to Annapolis to seek medical treatment for his ailing wife, Marjorie. She died in August 1979 after 42 years of marriage.

For several years in the 1980s, Adm. Fluckey and his second wife, Margaret, maintained a home in Portugal, where they ran an orphanage.

Survivors include his wife, of Annapolis; a daughter from his first marriage, Barbara Bove of Annapolis and Summerfield, Fla.; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

In recent years, Adm. Fluckey treated the aging veterans of the Barb to cruises in Alaska and on the Mississippi River.

"He was imaginative, very decisive and very quick, with a great sense of fun," said McNitt, his former executive officer. "He was an extraordinary submarine captain."