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