High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! William McCombe Callaghan (August 8, 1897 – July 8, 1991) was a United States Navy officer who served as the first captain of the battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) and the inaugural commander of the Military Sea Transportation Service. Through the course of almost 40 years, he served his country in three wars. His naval career began on a destroyer in the final months of World War I. Following command of the destroyer USS Reuben James (DD-245) and logistical work prior to World War II, he took command of the Missouri in 1944.