Admiral kidd

US Navy Medal of Honor recipient (1888–1941)

Franklin Van Valkenburgh (April 5, 1888 – December 7, 1941) was an American naval officer who served as the last captain of the USS Arizona (BB-39). He was killed when the Arizona exploded and sank during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Early life

Born in Minneapolis, Van Valkenburgh moved to Milwaukee when he was a toddler.

Appendix Biography - Franklin Butler Van Valkenburgh - NAVVF

His father was a prominent lawyer also named Franklin Van Valkenburgh, who served as Milwaukee assistant city attorney and a U.S. attorney for Wisconsin. His great-grandmother's brother was Daniel Wells Jr., who represented Wisconsin's 1st Congressional District in the 1850s. His mother was Jane Irvin Swoope, daughter of H.B. Swoope, a U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, the grandson of Captain Peter Swoope, Sr.

an 18th Century pioneer of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.^[1] Her brother was William Swoope, a member of the United States House of