[1] Assigned to the USS New Jersey at the occupation of Veracruz in 1914, Buckmaster was credited with rescuing a wounded sailor and bringing him to safety.

Upon graduation in 1936 at age 47, Buckmaster performed duties in aviation until ordered in 1938 to USS Lexington as her executive officer.

On February 5, 1941, Captain Buckmaster assumed command of USS Yorktown at Naval Air Station Ford Island.

The Yorktown suffered considerable damage during Coral Sea, but quickly, if superficially, repaired at Pearl Harbor.

Buckmaster, consulting with his executive officer, Dixie Kiefer, and the ship's chief engineer officer, John F. Delaney, Jr., they concluded that without power, and the undoing of the superficial repairs made at Pearl Harbor following the Coral Sea Battle, there was no hope of correcting a list that varied between 26 and 28 degrees.

Returning from Midway, Buckmaster was promoted to rear admiral and named the first Chief of Naval Air primary Training (NAPTC).