Rear Admiral Thomas John Ryan, Jr. (August 5, 1901 – January 28, 1970) was a career American naval officer who received the Medal of Honor, the United States' highest military decoration, for his actions while in Yokohama, Japan during the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake.

He commanded the destroyer screen which supported the invasion of New Georgia in 1943, assisting the American landings on Rendova Island on June 30, by knocking out Japanese shore batteries.

Although Ryan succeeded in forcing the escorting enemy destroyers to retreat, most of the barge transports escaped.

After the end of the war, Ryan served as the trial judge advocate (prosecutor) in late 1945 during the court-martial of Charles B. McVay III.

[6] His citation reads as follows: For heroism in effecting the rescue of a woman from the burning Grand Hotel, Yokohama, Japan, on 1 September 1923.