Luce, Stephen Bleecker, 1827–1917, American naval officer, b. Albany, N.Y. He entered the navy as a midshipman in 1841. In the Civil War he was head of the department of seamanship at the Naval Academy (then at Newport, R.I.) and served on blockade duty off the South Carolina coast. After the war he was commandant (1865–68) of midshipmen at Annapolis and saw varied service afloat and ashore. It was largely owing to his efforts that the naval war college was established at Newport in 1884. He was its first superintendent (1884–86). Promoted rear admiral in 1886, he was retired in 1889. Luce's Seamanship (1863), which went through many editions, was long an authoritative text.
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