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Letter and Biography

(excerpts) from RADM Karl J. Christoph, Jr., USN RET.

After graduating from the Naval Academy I spent three years on a destroyer. My first CO was an obnoxious jerk who couldn't find his butt with either hand. I would do anything to get out from under his command. I volunteered to be a CEC officer. That was turned down. I turned in my resignation, but the CO refused to forward it. Finally I saw message come in asking for volunteers for UDT. I didn't the foggiest idea what UDT was, but if it would get off that ship, so be it.
I was surprised that I was allowed to stay with Team One. When I reported in I had a broken hand in a hard cast from playing basketball, and my first request was to be allowed a couple days off to study for the five-day promotion exam to LTJG that was coming up in two weeks. Not the greatest way to start out with a new command. The CO was OK with it, but Ted Fielding, the XO let me know that as far as he was concerned it was unsat!

The one thing that I didn't include is how I happened to get transferred from Team One to Team Four in 1951, which makes for an interesting story.

I had taken a bunch of guys to the pool at the Phib Base at Coronado for a training session. We had reserved the pool and supposedly had it to ourselves. About halfway through a young boy and a BM1 came in and during on of our breaks the boy started throwing our fins and facemasks into the pool. We were a little put out and told the kid to knock it off. Instead he continued.

I went up to the BM1 and told him to get
his kid and get out. He said he wasn't going to do it because it was Admiral________'s
kid and he had been told to bring him over for a swim. I told him that was BS since I knew Admiral______'s kid and he was a LTJG that I had just flunked a year or so ago in an ORI. Not being an analytical thinker it never dawned on me that the JG might have a younger brother!~ With that I escorted the BM1 and the kid out.
 
Well, that afternoon, the Admiral sent for my CO Kelly Welch, and myself. When we appeared he was livid and told Kelly that he never wanted to me set foot on his Phib Base ever again. So Kelly had no choice but to request BuPers to have me transferred. Thus several weeks later I reported in to Team Four. To add a strange twist to this tale, the Admiral's son, the JG, years later became a Vice Admiral, and he was the one who called to notify me that I had been selected for Rear Admiral! Warm regards, — K.J. Christoph, Jr.

His service in his own words:

The son of Rear Admiral K. J. Christoph, himself a pioneer in amphibious operations in World war II, he was also a descendent of one of the pioneers of Coronado, Alvin B. Daniels. Admiral Christoph was raised in Southern California, graduated from Severn School in Severna Park, Maryland before attending the Naval Academy, where he graduated in 1947. In addition to serving as a platoon officer in UDT-1 and UDT-4, he served on the following ships: USS Buck, USS Kula Gulf, USS Block Island, and USS Baur. He commanded USS Pluck, USS Jonas Ingram, USS W E Pratt, USS Kansas City, Amphibious Squadron Three, Cruiser Destroyer Group Three, and Amphibious Group Two.

He was extremely proud of the fact that he was one of the very few officers who had command in all four elements of the Surface Navy: the Mine Force, Service Force, Cruiser- Destroyer Force, and Amphibious Force.

RADM Christoph was an early pioneer of the application of computers to the shore establishment of the Navy, he was in the systems application division of the Bureau of Naval Personnel. As a result of this experience, he later spent four years in charge of all Vietnam applications of computers for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. One of his duties was to be sole source of the infamous daily body count in Vietnam. He served as the last chief of staff for Amphibious Force, Atlantic Fleet and the first chief of staff for Naval Surface Force, Atlantic. He also served as chief of staff, Naval Forces Vietnam in Saigon, Training Command, Pacific, the U.S. Readiness Command, and the Joint Deployment Agency in Tampa, Florida. He often complained that it seemed he was never going to be anything but a major domo and paper pusher since he was chief of staff to nine different flag and general officers.

Christoph cont—

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Christoph cont—

Although he always considered himself first and foremost a Surface Warfare Officer, or "ship driver," Admiral Christoph participated in operations that would change the course of special warfare in the Navy. Assigned to Underwater Demolition Team ONE in 1950, he was awaiting training when the Korean War commenced. Since the team was short of officers, it was decided to take him along rather than wait for the training class to begin. He participated in commando type raids against rail targets in North Korea before the Inchon assault. One night, during a beach reconnaissance, Christoph was trapped behind a beach south of Inchon. Most members of the team returned to the ship safely, but Christoph had to work his way around the enemy before finding a shot-up, half inflated, rubber boat, and with several others, escaped safely to the USS Horace A. Bass. So confused was the situation that when he returned to the states the following year, he found many of his friends had heard he had been lost that night.

He also recounted that one night when they had gone ashore on the east coast of North Korea to blow up a railroad tunnel, they found a local guard at the tunnel entrance. When the guard saw them, he threw his weapon away and ran down the track as fast as he could. He was so surprised us that no shots were fired. When they retrieved his gun, they found it was merely a wooden stick shaped like a rifle with a crude bayonet fashioned on the end. "No wonder he ran off so fast!." said Christoph.

While loading the tunnel mouth with explosives, three trains came through. The Team regretted not rigging a booby trap on the rails to explode and derail the train while it was in the tunnel. As it was, everyone held their breath worrying that trains would stop and troops would come after them alerted by the guard. However nothing of the sort happened, and the tunnel blew without incident.

These operations demonstrated for the first time that frogmen could consistently operate beyond the high water mark and deep into enemy territory. This was revolutionary in the employment of Underwater Demolition Teams in unconventional warfare and planted the seed for the development of future SEAL operations. He later served in UDT-4 in Norfolk VA where he provided the East Coast teams with the benefit of his experiences in Korea and they provided him with further training in submersible operations, and he discovered the delights of training in St. Thomas, VI.

Like all regular Navy officers of the time, his service in the teams was limited to three years. When he was transferred out, he became a student at the Naval Postgraduate School In Monterey, CA, where he met and married his wife, the former Geraldine Couture. She also has two brothers who were graduates of the Naval Academy. She provided the strength required of any Navy wife, being a source of help and council to the young wives during long deployments, while raising the Christoph's five children, Karen Munch of Galt, CA, Kimberly Reinking of Davis CA, Karl J. III of San Diego CA. CDR Kathleen McCarthy of Ponte Verde Beach FL, and Kerry D of Pasadena CA, They have presented him with ten grandchildren.

After retirement he and his wife traveled extensively throughout the world. When at home he enjoyed playing golf. He also worked at the H&R Block Premium office in San Diego for 13 years, after declining to work for any company that worked for or with the government. He took great enjoyment in tweaking the IRS while helping his clients. Now fully retired, he still enjoys traveling whenever he can.

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