[1] His first assignment was USS Corona, a small anti-submarine patrol vessel operating in European waters during the last part of World War I.

[5][6] After recovering from his injuries, Kiefer was promoted to captain and given command of the new carrier USS Ticonderoga (CV-14), which was commissioned at the Norfolk Navy Yard on 8 May 1944.

He was popular with his sailors and was credited with training the carrier's air group and crew into an efficient wartime team.

Reportedly, Kiefer would use the bullhorn 4-5 times a day to hurry his flight deck crew or else "that admiral over there will give me hell."

When the ship passed through the Panama Canal, Kiefer ensured that nearly the entire 3,000 crew received shore leave.

He received the Distinguished Service Medal from Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal, who called him "the indestructible man".

He was killed in the crash of his Navy transport plane on Mount Beacon, New York, while returning to Quonset from Caldwell, New Jersey.