Editing Elmo Zumwalt (section)

===Flag assignments===
====Vietnam====
After his selection for the rank of [[Rear admiral (United States)|rear admiral]], Zumwalt assumed command of Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla Seven on 24 July 1965 in San Diego.<ref>Berman, Zumwalt, 154</ref> He then served as Director, Systems Analysis Division, OPNAV (OP-96) from August 1966 to August 1968.<ref>Berman, Zumwalt, 433.</ref> In September 1968, he became Commander [[Naval Forces Vietnam]] and Chief of the Naval Advisory Group, United States [[Military Assistance Command Vietnam]] (MACV) and was promoted to vice admiral in October 1968. Zumwalt was the Navy adviser to General [[Creighton Abrams]], Commander, MACV. Zumwalt always spoke very highly of Abrams, and said that Abrams was the most caring officer he had ever known.

Zumwalt's command was not a [[blue-water navy|blue-water]] force, like the Seventh Fleet; it was a [[brown-water navy|brown-water]] unit: he commanded the flotilla of [[Fast Patrol Craft|Swift Boats]] that patrolled the coasts, harbors, and rivers of Vietnam. Among the swift-boat commanders were his son Elmo Russell Zumwalt III and later future senator and secretary of state [[John Kerry]]. Among his other forces were Task Force 115, the Coastal Surveillance Force, Task Force 116, the River Patrol Force and Task Force 117, the joint Army-Navy [[Mobile Riverine Force]].<ref>Berman, Zumwalt, 171</ref>

====Chief of Naval Operations====
[[File:Warner cunningham driscoll zumwalt.jpg|thumb|L-R [[United States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]] [[John Warner]], [[Duke Cunningham|Randall "Duke" Cunningham]], [[William P. Driscoll|William Driscoll]], and CNO Zumwalt.]]
President [[Richard Nixon]] nominated Zumwalt to be [[Chief of Naval Operations]] in April 1970. Upon being relieved as Commander Naval Forces Vietnam on May 15, 1970, he was awarded a second [[Navy Distinguished Service Medal]] for exceptionally meritorious service.

Zumwalt assumed duties as Chief of Naval Operations and was promoted to full admiral on July 1, 1970, and quickly began a series of moves intended to reduce racism and sexism in the Navy. These were disseminated in Navy-wide communications known as "Z-grams". These included orders authorizing beards (sideburns, mustaches, and longer groomed hair were also acceptable) and introducing beer-dispensing machines to barracks.

Zumwalt instituted the 'Mod Squad'—[[Destroyer Squadron 26]] and later 31—to give promising young officers early command experience. Billets were a rank lower than normal.

Zumwalt reshaped the Navy's effort to replace large numbers of aging World War II-era vessels, a plan called "High-Low". Instituted over the resistance of Admiral [[Hyman Rickover]] and others, High-Low sought to balance the purchase of high-end, nuclear-powered vessels with low-end, cheaper ones—such as the [[Sea Control Ship]]—that could be bought in greater numbers. Rickover, the 'Father of the Nuclear Navy', preferred buying a few major ships to buying many ordinary ones. Zumwalt proposed four kinds of warships to fit the plan; in the end, only the {{Sclass|Pegasus|hydrofoil|4}} of missile patrol boats and the {{Sclass|Oliver Hazard Perry|frigate|0}} of [[guided missile frigate]]s became reality, and only six of the planned 100+ ''Pegasus''-class [[hydrofoil]]s were built. The ''Oliver Hazard Perry'' class stood as the most numerous class of United States' warships since World War II until the advent of the {{Sclass|Arleigh Burke|destroyer}}s. Zumwalt was the last Chief of Naval Operations to live at [[Number One Observatory Circle]] before it became the official residence of the [[Vice President of the United States|vice president]]. For Zumwalt, not pleased with the choice, this was reason enough to challenge Virginia Senator [[Harry F. Byrd Jr.]] in the 1976 Senate election in Virginia.<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=Barbara Bush: A Memoir|author=Bush, B.|date=2010|publisher=Scribner|isbn=9781451603958|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q0qdrPsi0eEC}}</ref>

Elmo Zumwalt Jr. retired from the Navy on July 1, 1974, aged 53.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Admiral Elmo R. ("Bud") Zumwalt, Jr., USN (1920-2000) 19th Chief of Naval Operations, 1 July 1970 – 1 July 1974 |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/us-people/z/zumwalt--elmo-r---jr-.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602010404/https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/us-people/z/zumwalt--elmo-r---jr-.html |archive-date=June 2, 2023 |access-date=March 13, 2024 |website=NHHC |language=en-US}}</ref>