World War II Ingram Cecil Sowell (January 2, 1892 – December 21, 1947) was a highly decorated officer in the United States Navy with the rank of rear admiral.

He commanded her during a routine patrol cruises in Azorean waters to protect shipping and to deny the use of the Portuguese archipelago as a base for U-boats or as a haven for German surface raiders interspersed with periods of refit, repairs, and replenishment.

[12][13] Due to demobilization of the Navy to the peacetime strength Sowell was reverted to the rank of lieutenant and ordered to Lake Torpedo Boat Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he assumed duty in connection with fitting out of submarine S-49.

Sowell was promoted back to lieutenant commander on April 1, 1923, and transferred to submarine tender Savannah, operating in the Panama Canal Zone and Caribbean.

His unit operated with the Atlantic Fleet and Sowell remained in command until June 1935, when he was ordered to the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.

He participated in the patrols along the west coast and off Hawaii and was ordered to Naval Station San Diego in June 1938, where he assumed duty as officer-in-charge, Recruit Training School.

He was responsible for the recruit training there until March 1943, when he was promoted to the rank of rear admiral and ordered to Bermuda, where he assumed duty as commander of Naval Operating Base there.

[2][26] By the end of September 1944, Sowell was ordered back to States and after brief leave with family, he was sent to New York City, where assumed command of Battleship Division Five, which just arrived from Europe.

He led his division of battleships (West Virginia, Maryland and Colorado) during the Battle of Lingayen Gulf in early January 1945; and then conducted bombardment of enemy beach defenses prior and during the landings at Iwo Jima in February; and Okinawa in March and April 1945.

Despite constant air attacks by kamikaze suicide planes against his ships and shelling by shore batteries, Sowell successfully commanded fire support group and conducted effective bombardment of enemy beach defenses.

[2][27][28][29][30] He succeeded Rear Admiral John F. Shafroth Jr. in command of Battleship Division Eight in June 1945 and later participated in the naval operations near the coast of Kyushu, Japan.

While in this capacity, he served consecutively under Admirals Jonas H. Ingram, Marc Mitscher and William H. P. Blandy until early 1947, when he was diagnosed with cancer and ordered to the Brooklyn Naval Hospital for treatment.

Rear Admiral Ingram C. Sowell died there on December 21, 1947, aged 55, and was buried with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.