[1] He was educated at the local academy in Binghamton, New York, where he was awarded a scholarship prize and a warrant as an assistant engineer in the United States Navy in 1852.

[2] He was Third Assistant Engineer on the frigate USS Mississippi, flagship of Commodore Matthew Perry's historic expedition to Japan from 1852 to 1855, which opened up that nation to the world for the first time.

[1] In 1857, now Second Assistant Engineer, he was ordered to the frigate USS Susquehanna, which was involved in the first, albeit unsuccessful, attempt to lay a transatlantic telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean, from Newfoundland to Ireland.

Lancaster, flagship of the Pacific Squadron, was cruising in the Marquesas Islands (French Polynesia) when the Civil War started, and did not find out about the outbreak of hostilities until it arrived in Hawaii, two months later.

During the Spanish–American War, Robie was recalled to help evaluate candidate vessels for the Auxiliary Naval Force at the ports of Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, Baltimore, Maryland and New York City.

[3] Robie retired with the rank of commodore, but an act of Congress in 1906 promoted him to rear admiral in appreciation for his services during the Civil War.