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Rear Admiral Walter McLean (c. 1855-1930) was the American commander of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard from November 25, 1915 until February 4, 1918. Under his command, the Shipyard was the holding area for various German vessels which had put into port during World War I, and stayed in a somewhat limbo status -- the United States had not entered the war and so could not commandeer the ships, but then neither could the ships be allowed to depart and resume attacks on Allied shipping. The course of action was therefore to keep the foreign ships and their crews as "guests" of the United States for years.

One of the ships thus detained was the Kronprinz Wilhelm, a German passenger liner which had had guns installed and been turned into a commerce raider for the Imperial German Navy. When the United States did enter the war in 1917, the ship was renamed as the USS Von Steuben and turned into a troop transport.

McLean maintained friendly relations with some of the "guest" crew. When the second-in-command of the Kronprinz Wilhelm, Alfred Niezychowski, got married in 1927, McLean was best man. McLean also encouraged Niezychowski to write a book about the journey, and McLean wrote his own forward to it when it was published in 1928 as The Cruise of the Kronprinz Wilhelm.

During World War I, McLean was commander of the Fifth Naval District, and also commandant of the Navy Base at Hampton Roads. According to the New York Times, he was with Admiral George Dewey at the Battle of Manila Bay (1898) during the Spanish-American War.

He died of a stroke at the Navy Hospital in Annapolis, at the age of 75.

References

• Norfolk Navy Yard list of commanders
• Alfred Niezychowski, The Cruise of the Kronprinz Wilhelm, 1928
• The New York Times, December 27, 1927, Niezychowski/Ulman wedding announcement
• The New York Times, March 21, 1930, "Admiral McLean Dies in 75th Year"

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