Roy Disney Enlists in the Navy

On June 22, 1917, Roy O. Disney enlisted in the Navy for a four year hitch, along with his friend Mitch Francis. (Roy would later marry Mitch's sister Edna). After completing the necessary paperwork at the recruiting office, Roy was sent home.


Two months later a telegram arrived on Roy's doorstep, directing him to report to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, located north of Chicago. Roy trained at Great Lakes from August 20, 1917, until January 17, 1918. When he graduated from Boot Camp, Roy became one of over 100-thousand men that were processed through the Navy's training center during World War I.

Aerial view showing a portion of the Great lakes Naval Training Station.

After graduation Roy was sent to Charleston, South Carolina, where he spent four months aboard a receiving ship - a floating barracks where sailors would await their next assignment, usually the arrival in port of the ship they had been assigned to.

On April 17, 1918, Roy boarded the USS Adonis, where he stayed for just five days. Despite scouring the internet and querying a well-respected naval historian, I have been unable to find any information on the Adonis. After his brief stay aboard the mystery ship, Roy was assigned to another receiving ship for two days.

On April 24, Roy was ordered to report to the USS Houston. Roy's floating home for the next seven months began her seafaring career as the SS Liebenfels, a 45-hundred ton German cargo ship that had been built in 1903.

With the outbreak of war in August 1914, ships of any class belonging to the combatants became fair game on the high seas. Liebenfels was initially laid up at Charleston at the war's outset. Fearful of their safety in the open waters of the Atlantic, the ship's crew decided to stay put for the war's duration.

When relations between Germany and America deteriorated in early 1917, Liebenfels was scuttled by her crew while in port. The ship was quickly floated, salvaged and refitted for service in the United States Navy.

The German built SS Liebenfels undergoes repairs while in drydock at the Charleston Navy Yard, May 16, 1917.

Commissioned in July 1917 as USS Houston, the merchant ship began transporting much needed supplies to Western Europe. Roy Disney was aboard Houston during three trans-Atlantic crossings.

The salvaged German freighter begins her new life as the USS Houston, Charleston Navy Yard, July 2, 1917.

According to Bob Thomas' biography, Building A Company, Roy E. Disney recalled his father telling him, "He did see ships blown up all around him. He said it was really scary; he was impressed with the terror of it all." Roy Sr. was also apparently in awe of the might of mother nature, when he witnessed the violent pitching waters of an Atlantic storm wrench a 57-pound iron compass ball from its housing on his ship's bridge.

USS Houston takes on supplies at the Charleston Navy Yard, April 18, 1918.

When the Armistice was signed to end the war, USS Houston began transporting supplies between the eastern seaboard and the west coast. Roy's last voyage aboard Houston ended with a load of coal at the Bremerton Naval Yard in Washington State.

Caricature of Roy Disney as a WW I sailor found in the 1943 employee newsletter, Dispatch From Disney's.

During his last trip Roy wrote about his time in the Navy. He later remarked, "Many years later, I...read [the notes] over again. I found I had been telling the biggest whoppers ever." Roy's notes about his naval experience have never been located.

Roy O. Disney's WW I Navy discharge papers. Roy began life in the Navy as an Apprentice Seaman. He was promoted to the rank of Seaman 2nd Class and then Seaman. He finished the war with the rank of Quartermaster 3rd Class.

With the war's end the Navy began to downsize. Roy applied for and was granted an early discharge on February 14, 1919. Roy returned to Kansas City and resumed his job at the First National Bank.