William Bullard was born in Media, Pennsylvania on December 6, 1866. His father was Orson Flagg Bullard, a member of the Pennsylvania legislature. William graduated from Media High School in 1882, as a member of the school's first graduating class. He attended the United States Naval Academy, graduating in 1886. He returned to the Naval Academy in the mid-1890s, where he participated on the officers' summer baseball team.

He served in USS Columbia (C-12) during the Spanish–American War and commanded the battleship USS Arkansas (BB-33), serving with the British Grand Fleet, during World War I.

Advanced to the rank of Rear Admiral, he commanded the U. S. Naval Base at Malta, and later commanded the U. S. Naval Forces in the Eastern Mediterranean, based at Corfu. During the latter tour, he was a member of the Inter-Allied Armistice Commission which effected, with notable tact and forbearance, the surrender of the Austro-Hungarian fleet to the United States.[1]

On August 5, 1921, the Yangtze Patrol force was organized under Rear Admiral Bullard as part of the Asiatic Fleet. During the unsettled conditions in China during the 1920s and 1930s, the Navy patrolled the Yangtze to protect United States interests, lives, and property.

Bullard gained a reputation as an authority on electrical systems and radio communications. In 1904, while still a junior officer, the then-lieutenant published through the United States Naval Institute a work titled Naval Electricians' Text and Handbook. Later retitled the Naval Electricians' Text Book, the work went through multiple editions, being re-released in 1908, 1911, 1915, and 1917.

On 13 December 1912, Captain Bullard was appointed Superintendent of the Naval Radio Service, within the Bureau of Navigation. During his tenure, he developed a Handbook of Regulations (1913).

After World War I, Bullard served in 1919 as a member of the Inter-Allied Conference on Radio, and later served as Director of Naval Communications, Navy Department. In 1927, he was appointed as chairman of the newly created Federal Radio Commission but died shortly into his tenure.

Rear Admiral Bullard retired in 1922 and died in Washington, D.C., 24 November 1927.

Two ships have been named in Bullard's honor. In 1943, the Navy named the destroyer USS Bullard (DD-660) after him. In February 1946, construction was completed on the cable-laying vessel SS William H. G. Bullard (M. C. hull 2557), built for the U.S. Maritime Commission by Pusey and Jones Corporation of Wilmington, Del. The vessel was acquired by the Navy in 1953 and redesignated USS Neptune (ARC-2).

  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

• Some of Bullard's works on electrical engineering and radio can be found in the collections of the Library of Congress.
  • Bullard, William Hannum Grubb, 1866–1927
  • Bullard, William Hannum Grubb (from old catalog)
• Yangtze River Patrol and Other US Navy Asiatic Fleet Activities in China, 1920–1942, as Described in the Annual Reports of the Navy Department – from the Naval Historical Center
• Howeth, Linwood S., History of Communications-Electronics in the United States Navy. Washington: Bureau of Ships and Office of Naval History, 1963.

• DANFS: USS Neptune (ARC-2) – from the Naval Historical Center
• Photo of Bullard as a member of the officers' summer baseball team, 1895, United States Naval Academy, Photo #: NH 53161 – from the Naval Historical Center
• Media High School: The First Graduates: The Class of 1882