served as an Instructor in the Department of Ordnance and Gunnery until July 1924. He was subsequently ordered to the Asiatic Station, where he joined destroyer USS Pruitt under Lieutenant Commander Joel W. Bunkley as his navigator and then executive officer. Cooley began his second tour at the Naval Academy as an Instructor in the Department of Ordnance and Gunnery in March 1927 and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant commander on November 6, 1928. In April 1929, Cooley was attached to the staff of Commander, Special Service Squadron and served as Aide and Flag lieutenant to Rear admiral Edward H. Campbell. He served in this capacity aboard cruiser USS Rochester and participated in the patrols in the Caribbean during the United States occupation of Nicaragua for which he won Nicaraguan Presidential Medal of Merit with Diploma. Cooley assumed command of destroyer USS Yarnall in January 1932 and operated her with the Scouting Fleet along the East Coast and Atlantic until May that year, when he was ordered to Washington, D.C. for duty in Bureau of Navigation. He was ordered back for sea duty in June 1934, when he joined light cruiser USS Concord as Gunnery officer under Captain Alexander Sharp Jr. He took part in the patrols off Hawaii, Alaska, and in the Panama Canal Zone, before he was promoted to Commander on June 30, 1937 and ordered back to the Naval Academy for duty in the Department of Seamanship and Navigation. Cooley was appointed Executive officer of heavy cruiser USS Wichita in June 1940 and took part as the part of Cruiser Division 7 in goodwill cruise to South America. World War II Cooley assumed command of newly commissioned attack cargo ship USS Almaack in June 1941 and took part in the transporting of troops and supplies to Iceland. Following the United States entry into World War II, Cooley was promoted to the temporary rank of Captain on January 1, 1942 and commanded Almaack during transports of Army troops to Belfast, Northern Ireland, and sailors to man the new naval operating base being established at Derry. The Almaack was transferred to South Pacific in April 1942 and after completing convoy duty to Tonga in the Polynesia, Cooley was transferred to Washington, D.C. for duty as Director of Officer Distribution at the Bureau of Naval Personnel under Rear admiral Randall Jacobs. Cooley was subsequently appointed Director of Officer