Frank Clayton Holmes

Captain Frank C. Holmes, USN (Ret), passed away peacefully on July 9, 2023, of causes related to age, at home in Idaho Falls, ID.

Frank was born in 1941 in Port Chester, NY, graduating from Port Chester High School in 1959, before entering the United States Naval Academy that same year. Originally a member of the Fourth Company, the entire class was rotated, he and his company mates graduated from the Fourteenth Company. Beyond the classroom he participated in battalion swimming and water polo for four years on a winning swimming team, but a subpar water polo team.

Serving initially as a surface line officer in Meredith (DD-890), he was transferred after this first tour to MIT, where three years later he graduated with a MS in Naval Architecture and a Naval Engineer's Degree. He was designated an Engineering Duty Officer and reported to America (CVA-66) as Boiler Officer and MPA. Deployed to Vietnam, this was the beginning of a 23 year association with carrier engineering interrupted by tours as Engineer in Biddle (CG-34) and Repair Officer in Vulcan (AR-5). Carrier related duty included service at Supship, Newport News, overseeing construction activities for Nimitz and Eisenhower, an assignment as staff engineer at Airlant and at Opnav (OP-05), and coordinating activities related to the Carrier Service Life Extension Program (CV-SLEP). Back-to-back assignments followed at the Naval Sea Systems Command as APM, CV-SLEP and as Program Manager (PMS-392/312), responsible for carrier modernization, SLEP and the new construction activities at Newport News. In this command assignment he delivered Forrestal and Independence from SLEP and Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln from new construction.

After a tour as the staff engineer in the Navy Program Planning Office, he started a second career with the Department of Energy in 1991, in the New Production Reactor Program, and later the Office of Environmental Management. Transfer to the DOE Idaho Operations Office followed in 1997 where he completed 46 years of government service, retiring in 2005. He returned to the Idaho National Laboratory in 2006 as a consultant to assist in the life extension of the Lab's Advanced Test Reactor (ATR). After 7 years with the ATR Life Extension Program he retired again to enjoy the quiet life in Idaho Falls.

To be inurned in Arlington National Cemetery, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Naval Academy Alumni Association, Class of 1963 Legacy Fund.