When most people hear the name "John McCain," they think of the Arizona Senator or the Hanoi Hilton. That's natural. But the McCain legacy didn't start in a Vietnamese prison camp or on a campaign trail. It began with a wiry, profane, chain-smoking Mississippian named John S. McCain Sr.—a man who basically pioneered the way the United States Navy fights with aircraft carriers.
He was nicknamed "Slew."
Honestly, he was kind of a mess as a student. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1906 ranking 79th out of 116. His yearbook even called him "The skeleton in the family closet." He had bad hearing. He rolled his own cigarettes, leaving trails of tobacco on his uniform. He swore like a sailor—because he was one—and he had a temper that could peel paint off a bulkhead. Yet, this is the man who helped break the back of the Japanese Empire.
The 52-Year-Old Rookie
Most people in their fifties are looking at retirement. Not Slew. In 1935, at the age of 51, John S. McCain Sr. decided he needed to become a pilot. Why? Because he saw the writing on the wall. He knew that the era of the battleship was dying and the age of the carrier was beginning.
The Navy had a rule: to command a carrier or a naval air station, you had to be a flight officer. So, McCain went to Pensacola. He was old, his reflexes weren't exactly "Top Gun" level, and he was competing with kids half his age. He struggled. He persevered. In 1936, at 52, he earned his wings. He became one of the oldest men to ever qualify as a naval aviator.
This move changed everything. It put him in the room where it happened when World War II kicked off.
Running the Fast Carrier Task Force
By 1944, McCain was a Vice Admiral. He was handed the keys to Task Force 38—the Fast Carrier Task Force. Think of this as the most powerful collection of naval airpower in human history.
He worked under Admiral William "Bull" Halsey. They were a pair. Halsey was the aggressive, headline-grabbing commander, and McCain was the guy making the planes fly and the bombs drop. During the Battle of Leyte Gulf, things got messy. Halsey took the main fleet north to chase a Japanese decoy, leaving a tiny group of American ships (Taffy 3) to face the Japanese center force.
McCain heard the desperate calls for help.
He didn't wait for Halsey to give a formal order. He turned his task group around and launched his planes from a staggering distance—further than they were supposed to fly—to harass the Japanese fleet. It wasn't a knockout blow, but it was enough to spook the Japanese commander into retreating. That's the kind of guy Slew was. He followed his gut.
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The Storms and the Struggles
It wasn't all glory.
McCain was there for Typhoon Cobra in December 1944. It was a disaster. The fleet sailed right into a massive storm that sank three destroyers and killed nearly 800 men. A later investigation put the blame on Halsey, but McCain took a hit to his reputation too. Some of the younger, "pure" aviators—guys who had been flying since their twenties—looked down on him as a "Johnny-Come-Lately." They thought he was sloppy.
But he was a fighter. He pioneered the use of Hellcat fighters as fighter-bombers, a move that was initially hated by the "experts" but ended up being crucial for the final strikes on the Japanese home islands.
The Final Day at Tokyo Bay
By the summer of 1945, John S. McCain Sr. was a ghost of a man. He had lost weight. He was physically and mentally spent. He actually asked to go home for leave, but Halsey insisted he stay for the surrender.
On September 2, 1945, McCain stood on the deck of the USS Missouri. He watched the Japanese officials sign the documents. He was in the front row. There's a famous photo of him that day, standing with his son, John "Jack" McCain Jr. (who would also become a four-star admiral).
Slew looked exhausted.
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He flew home to Coronado, California, right after the ceremony. His wife, Catherine, had a welcome-home party waiting for him. He walked into the house, told her he didn't feel well, and collapsed.
He died of a heart attack that same day. September 6, 1945.
He literally gave everything he had to the war effort. He held on just long enough to see the peace, and then his heart just stopped.
What We Get Wrong About the McCain Legacy
People often think the "maverick" streak in the McCain family started with the Senator. It didn't. It started with Slew.
- He was a risk-taker: Taking up flying at 52 was an insane career gamble.
- He was a reformer: He pushed for naval aviation when the "Battleship Admirals" were still in charge.
- He was a patriarch: He and his son were the first father-son duo to both reach four-star rank.
Why You Should Care
If you're looking for a lesson in leadership from John S. McCain Sr., it’s basically this: It is never too late to pivot. He was a desk officer who became a combat aviator in his fifties. He wasn't the smartest guy in the room, but he was the grittiest.
If you want to understand the modern U.S. Navy, you have to look at the Carrier Strike Groups. Those are the direct descendants of the Fast Carrier Task Force that Slew commanded. He helped write the playbook for how America projects power across the oceans.
Actionable Insights for History Buffs:
- Read "Faith of My Fathers": The first third of the book by Senator John McCain gives a brutal, honest look at Slew’s personality and his relationship with his family.
- Visit Arlington: He’s buried in Section 3, Site 4356. It’s a humble spot for a guy who moved mountains.
- Study the Pacific Logistics: Most people focus on the dogfights. Look into how McCain managed the Bureau of Aeronautics during the war—that's where the real "war of attrition" was won.
Slew McCain wasn't a perfect man, but he was exactly the kind of blunt instrument the Navy needed in 1944. He didn't care about the polish; he cared about the planes.