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Note: "Rear Admiral Layton was a significant figure in the development and application of Naval Intelligence to support warfare commanders in the Pacific Theater during World War II and later during the Korean War.
A 1924 US Naval Academy graduate. After graduation he was assigned to duty aboard the battleship USS West Virginia then to destroyer USS Chase (DD-323). In 1929 he was assigned as an attache to the US Embassy in Tokyo to learn the Japanese language. He was one of the first US Navy officers so qualified. During this tour he developed a professional relationship with Capt Joseph J. Rochefort, a leader in the field of Naval Cryptanalysis. Following his Tokyo assignment he was then assigned as assistant naval attache to the US Legation in Peiping (now Peking) China in 1932 and 1933. Between the years 1934-1935 he served in several billets aboard the battleship USS Pennsylvania, flagship of the US Pacific Fleet. In 1936 he was assigned to the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) in Washington, DC. In 1937 he returned to the embassy in Tokyo where he served two years as assistant naval attache. It was during this time that he became personally acquainted with a number of Japanese naval officers who were to lead the Japanese Imperial Navy in World War II, including Adm Isoroku Yamamoto, architect of the Dec 7, 1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Adm Layton would utilize his knowledge of these personalities to great advantage later in naval intelligence analysis and battle planning during the war. After commanding the USS Boggs (AG-19) in 1940, then Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Layton was assigned as Fleet Intelligence Officer to the Commander in Chief, US Pacific Fleet (CINCPACFLT) at Pearl Harbor, Adm Husband E Kimmel. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Chester Nimitz, the new CINCPACFLT, asked that Layton remain on his staff as his Fleet Intelligence Officer. LCDR Layton would join Adm Nimitz as the only two officers to remain assigned to the Pacific Fleet staff for the duration of World War II. He assisted in planning the decisive Battle of Midway as well as other campaigns in the Pacific, and was present aboard the battleship USS Missouri when the Japanese surrender was signed in 1945.
After an assignment as the commanding officer of the US Naval Net Depot at Tiburon, CA, Adm Layton, in 1948, was assigned in Washington, D.C. to establish the first Naval Intelligence School and serve as its director. In 1950 he was assigned as the Senior Intelligence Officer to the 14th Naval District in Hawaii. At the outbreak of the Korean War, he was reassigned to Japan as intelligence officer on the staff of Adm. C. Turner Joy, Commander of Naval Forces, Far East.
Following the war, Adm Layton continued to receive high level assignments in the Navy in Hawaii, the Far East and Washington, DC. His twilight tour was as Director, Naval Intelligence School from which he retired in 1959.
After his retirement from active duty, Adm Layton went to work for the Northrop Corp. and opened their first office in Japan and served as its director in Tokyo from 1959 to 1963.
An Edwin T Layton Chair of Naval Intelligence was established in his honor at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I. on 19 March 1971 (*)
He wrote and lectured extensively on the subject of naval intelligence, the history of World War II and Japan, and his last public presentation was made at the Annapolis Naval History Symposium in the fall of 1983 on the role of naval intelligence leading up to the Battle of Midwa
His memoir of World War II, "And I Was There: Pearl Harbor and Midway Breaking the Secrets," was published posthumously in 1985.
In 2001, the Director of Naval Intelligence established the Rear Admiral Edwin T. Layton Leadership Award to recognize outstanding leadership and mentorship in the furtherance of naval intelligence performance.
Admiral Layton's military decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit and the Navy Commendation Medal. (bio by G47)
* Per email from Naval War College Archivist, Scott Reilly, 28 July 2015
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Per his obituary pub 14 April 1984, Adm. Layton suffered a stroke on his 81st birthday, and died Thursday, 12 April 1984, at Silas B Hays Hospital on the now closed Fort Ord installation. According to his wishes his cremains were scattered at sea. "
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According to the manifest of the S.S. President Jackson that arrived in Los Angeles on 16 March 1933 Edwin Layton, b. 7 April 1903 in Nauvoo, IL was married. He wasn't traveling with any family even though the ship was enroute from Yohohama, Japan.
Intelligence Officer to Admiral Chester Nimitz, CINCPAC, during WWII. Author of tell-all book, And I Was There: Pearl Harbor and Midway Breaking the Secrets.
According to the Navy and Marine Corps Officers Registry of 1943, Edwin Thomas Layton was a temporary CDR (Date of Temporary Rank: 17 July 1942), A Permanent LCDR, Date of Rank: 1 Dec 1938. Date of Birth: 7 April 1903; and Date of Entry: 03 August 1920 *. Signal #: 1701 (prob corresponds to lineal #). The asterisk means Commissioned ensign June 5, 1924. US Naval Academy graduate.
Commanders Layton and Rochefort were contemporaries, friends, and worked together in Pearl Harbor prior to and after Dec 7, 1941. They met while both were traveling to Japan in 1929 to undergo language training. According to the 1930 Tokyo, Japan Consular Service enumeration Edwin T Layton and his friend Joseph Rochefort and his wife Elma F Rochefort were also enumerated.
Layton, Edwin T. Rear Adm. US Navy, ret., WWII intelligence officer, Pearl Harbor, retired in Carmel, obituary, picture (Herald April 14, 1984 p4)
Source: http://cagenweb.com/montereybbs/viewtopic.php?p=18726&sid=de645683c778063217ea7c936e7b5a5c [online retrieved 18 July 2015]
Compiler's note: From feedback I've received on Find A Grave RADM Layton is not buried in Garden of Memories, Salinas, Monterey, CA [17 July 2015]
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