[1] He was born in the house of his grandfather, Montgomery C. Meigs, Quartermaster General of the United States Army during the American Civil War, for whom he was also named.

[5] Taylor was appointed in 1886 to the United States Naval Academy, where he was an outstanding halfback on the first football team the school fielded.

Taylor disembarked at Nagasaki, Japan, and joined the protected cruiser USS Olympia, Admiral George Dewey's flagship, in September 1897.

[2] During the Spanish–American War of 1898, Taylor served as a battery commander aboard Olympia[2][6] and took part in the Battle of Manila Bay on 1 May 1898.

[8] Buffalo cruised through the Caribbean Sea and along the west coast of Central America before being ordered to Alaska.

[2] From 1915 to 1916, Taylor attended the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island,[1] with orders to report to the armored cruiser USS Colorado to serve as her commanding officer in the event of a national emergency.

[3] Taylor returned to the United States in 1923 and was appointed a member of the Naval Examining and Retiring Board in the Department of the Navy.

[16] In September 1927, Taylor made Joseph J. Clark (later an admiral himself who played a significant role in the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944) his division chief of staff.

[19] Although energetic, deeply interested in Asia and the Pacific region, and a student of blockades and invasions, Taylor contributed little to war planning in these crucial years.

[20] Naval historian Robert Love agrees, noting that Taylor deeply distrusted the Chinese and believed the Nationalist Government unwilling to defend its own territory.

[23] He also was appointed to the board of inquiry into comments made by Major General Smedley Butler (USMC) about an alleged crime committed by Benito Mussolini.

[26][27] He won the position based on a reputation for quick thinking and making decisions without waiting for approval by superiors.

[28] Admiral Taylor believed that the role of the United States Navy in the Far East was "sitting tight" and not getting involved.

[26] He openly counseled American non-intervention in the Japanese invasion of Manchuria (which began on September 19, 1931)[29] and believed that Japan could not be convinced to give up her war-won possessions on the mainland without coercion.

He then ordered (again without approval from superiors) a troop of U.S. Marines to board his remaining ships so that the Asiatic Fleet had a ground force to use as well.

[32] On March 5, 1932, Taylor joined a joint British, French, and Italian committee sponsored by the League of Nations to investigate the war between China and Japan.

He was appointed to serve on the United States Maritime Commission on September 26, 1936,[40] replacing Admiral Harry G.

Thomas M. Woodward was appointed to fulfill the remainder of Taylor's term, which was due to end on September 26, 1939.