During the 1907-1909 cruise of the "Great White Fleet", sent around the world by President Theodore Roosevelt, he served as ordnance officer of the battleship Nebraska (BB-14).

On May 18, 1908, while the Great White Fleet rested in San Francisco, California, he married Lily Hazard McCalla (1878–1965), the daughter of Rear Admiral Bowman H.

He attended the Naval War College's two-year course in 1912–13, and after graduation became the aide to Captain William Sims, commanding the Atlantic Torpedo Flotilla.

After returning to the United States in March 1919, he served for a year on the faculty of the Naval War College, when he became a key figure on the Knox-King-Pye Board that examined professional military education.

For a quarter of a century his leadership inspired diligence, efficiency, and initiative while he guided, improved, and expanded the Navy's archival and historical operations.

King, and other senior leaders in the Navy Department allowed him to play an instrumental role behind the scenes in the years leading up to and during World War II.

Advanced to Commodore on 2 November 1945, he was awarded the Legion of Merit for "exceptionally meritorious conduct" while directing the correlation and preservation of accurate records of the U.S. naval operations in World War II, thus protecting this vital information for posterity.