Edward Walter Eberle (August 17, 1864 – July 6, 1929) was an admiral in the United States Navy, who served as Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy and the third Chief of Naval Operations. Early years Edward Walter Eberle was born in Denton, Texas, to Swiss-born immigrant and Confederate Officer [Johann] Joseph Eberle (1828–1877), who originally was from Walenstadt in Sarganserland, and his wife Maria Anna, née Stemmler (1835–1886). He was raised at Fort Smith, Arkansas. He entered the United States Naval Academy on September 28, 1881 and graduated on June 5, 1885. Naval career Following the two years of sea service—spent in screw sloops-of-war and and the steamer , as then required before commissioning—Eberle was promoted to ensign on July 1, 1887. Brief duty in Washington, D.C., in the late summer and early autumn preceded his reporting to on November 22, 1887 to begin three years of duty in that U.S. Fish Commission steamer. During his time on the Albatross, commanded by then Captain Z. L. Tanner, he participated in running lines of soundings around Cape Horn, charting the fishing banks off the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, and assisting in developing the Tanner Sounding Device. Following leave from November 22, 1890 to January 28, 1891, Eberle received instruction in new developments in naval ordnance at the Washington Navy Yard while awaiting orders for sea duty. Here, he demonstrated an interest in and an aptitude for naval gunnery which ever after was central to his career. On March 20, 1891 Eberle reported to and, in the veteran screw sloop-of-war, steamed across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans to the Far East. A year and a half later, while still in the Far East, he was transferred to the sailing sloop-of-war to close out this tour of duty in Asiatic waters. He returned to the United States in the summer of 1894 and reported for duty at the Naval Academy on August 20. In the waning days of this service at Annapolis, Eberle's commission as lieutenant, junior grade, arrived on June 12, 1896, only to be followed a week later by orders sending him across the continent to San Francisco, where the battleship was being completed at the Union Iron Works. Eberle reported for duty on July 10, five days before the new battleship was first placed in commission. Oregon was one of four U.S. Navy ships of that time mounting