Edwin Bickford Hooper (February 26, 1909 – September 12, 1986) was a vice admiral of the United States Navy—his naval service spanned 5 decades from 1930 to the 1970.

In the months before the battle, Hooper had uncovered and corrected small systematic errors in the fire control of the 16-inch guns and, as a result, very accurate naval gunfire led to the rapid sinking of the Kirishima.

In 1945 while on the USS Alaska, Hooper suffered a series of heart attacks and, after his recovery, became officer in charge of ordnance, maintenance, and improvement on the staff of Commander, Service Force, United States Pacific Fleet.

As captain, Hooper developed and tested techniques for resupplying ships in high seas and cold waters off Baffin Island and Greenland.

Since Mendenhall was involved in Korean armistice negotiations at Pan Mun Jom, Hooper operated the Flotilla on a day-to-day basis.

[1] From 1958-1959, Hooper was commander of Destroyer Squadron 26, which was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, and, from 1959 to 1961, was first director of the Institute of Naval Studies in Newport, Rhode Island.

Initially, the command was located in Coronado, California, and, during this period, a training Exercise Seawall in Washington State was conducted the Army's 4th Division.

Tulungan involved landing U.S. Marines and Philippine Army units into Mindanao PI and was, in many ways, a final training exercise before the Vietnam War.

During 1962, there was a low level conflict in New Guinea between the Dutch and Indonesia and the amphibious group wrote contingency plans to support evacuations.

As the principal logistics agent for the Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Hooper commanded over 56,000 navy personnel who manned more than 128 ships, 22,000 non-military personnel, 14 overseas shore activities including Naval Support Activity Saigon and numerous other mobile support units and staffs of the Pacific Service Force.

Hooper help establish and operate the major logistical bases in Danang, Chu Lai and Cam Ranh Bay that supported both army and marine forces in Vietnam.