COMMANDING OFFICER

USS Leahy (DLG-16)

8 July 1964 - 3 February 1967



CAPTAIN S. N. ANASTASION, U.S. NAVY

Steven Nicholas Anastasion was born in New Haven, Connecticut on April 9, 1921. He attended New Haven High School before entering the U. S. Naval Academy in June 1939.
After graduation from the Naval Academy in June 1942, he was ordered to USS Champlin (DD-601) in which he served from September 1942 to June 1945, first as Torpedo Officer, then as Gunnery Officer, and later as Executive Officer. In that Destroyer he participated in the Sicilian Invasion, bombardments of the Formio-Anzio area of Italy, and the invasion of Southern France, as well as convoy and escort operations in the North Atlantic. In July 1945, he returned to Annapolis as a student in the special Physics area of Ordnance Engineering at the Naval Post Graduate School, continuing the course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, receiving the degree of Master of Science in February 1948. For the remainder of that year he was assigned to work at the Special Weapons Project in Albuquerque, New Mexico and at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratories. In 1949, he reported to the USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) in which he served as Assistant Gunnery Officer and Special Weapons Officer until October of that year.
From October 1949 until June 1951, he was assigned as Technical Officer in Joint Task Group 3.1 participating in the Operation Greenhouse atomic weapons test at Eniwetok in the Spring of 1951. The next year, from July 1951 to June 1952, he served in the Bureau of Ordnance on the staff of the Assistant to the Chief for Nuclear Energy Applications.
He commanded the USS Nawman (DE-416) from July 1952 until June 1954. His next assignment was with the Field Command, Defense Atomic Support Agency in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he was Director of the Technical Training Division until July 1957. During the next year, from August 1957 to June 1958, he attended the course in Naval Warfare at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Captain Anastasion followed the War College tour with command of the USS Hawkins (DDR-873) from July 1958 to August 1960. In September, 1960, he reported to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy and served as his Special Technical Assistant until August 1963. At that time, he was ordered as a student to the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Washington, D. C. and completed the course in June 1964, reporting as Commanding Officer of the USS Leahy (DLG-16) immediately thereafter. In addition to the Bronze Star Medal with one Gold Star and Combat "V", Captain Anastasion has the American Defense Medal with star, the American Campaign Medal with two stars, the European African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with four stars, the World War II Victory Medal, the Navy Occupation Service Medal, European Clasp, and the National Defense Service Medal.

Supplemental (as of 2006) biographical info is here

Further biographical info is here


Captain S. N. Anastasion
CO - USS Leahy (DLG-16)
8 July 1964 - 3 February 1967