Wat Tyler Cluverius Jr. (12 December 1874 – 28 October 1952) was an admiral in the United States Navy and president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. When he died, he was the last surviving officer of the sinking of . An 1896 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Cluverius joined the crew of in 1897 and was on board when the ship suffered an explosion in Havana Harbor in 1898. The sinking of Maine helped precipitate the Spanish–American War, a war in which Cluverius participated on a number of ships including . During the Philippine–American War he served on the . In 1914, he took part in the United States occupation of Veracruz, commanding a battalion of bluejackets from the battleship . During World War I he commanded the minelayer USS Shawmut, laying the anti-submarine mine barrage across the North Sea, for which he was awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal. Cluverius was Commandant of Midshipmen at the Naval Academy from 1919 to 1921, and attended the Naval War College from 1921 to 1922. He was aide to the Secretary of the Navy, Curtis D. Wilbur. Promoted to flag rank in 1928, he was Commandant of the Norfolk Navy Yard from 1928 to 1930, commanded Battleship Division Two the Scouting Fleet from June to November 1930, and was Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief United States Fleet. He was commandant of the Ninth Naval District and the Fourth Naval District before retiring from the Navy on 1 January 1939. In retirement, Cluverius became president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, but returned to active duty during World War II as secretary of the Naval office of Public Information and as a member of the Navy Board of Production Awards. In this capacity he was involved in the conferring of Army-Navy "E" Awards. Naval career Wat Tyler Cluverius Jr. was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on 12 December 1874, the son of Wat Tyler Cluverius Sr., and his wife Martha Lewis née Manning. He attended Tulane University before being appointed to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, which he entered on 20 May 1892. In those days, naval cadets—the rank of midshipman would not exist for a few more years—by law had to serve for two years before they were eligible to take the examinations for the rank of ensign. Therefore, after graduation from the Naval Academy in June