CDR Thomas Mathews

Director of Personel Affairs

CDR Thomas Mathews is a Charleston native who attended local public schools and graduated from the College of Charleston with a BS in Chemistry.  Prior to that he had joined the naval reserve as an enlisted man and was accepted at the US Naval Officer Candidate School at Newport, RI.  Following commissioning, he attended graduate school at Georgia Tech in chemistry while being possibly the only ensign in the naval reserve not on active duty at that time.  He was called to active duty and sent to the US Naval Academy, where he taught chemistry, navigation, and naval operations.

After active duty Tommy attended Texas A & M University, where he received his Ph.D. in chemical oceanography.  During that time he was in the naval reserve with a research unit.  After graduate school he returned to Charleston in a reserve capacity and was on the staff of four different admirals, the longest being Commander Mine Warfare Command as the staff oceanographer.  His naval reserve career ended after Operation Desert Storm.

Tommy’s civilian career was primarily at the SC Department of Natural Resources, where he was the department chemist and division safety officer.  After retirement from the state of SC he taught physical science at Southern Wesleyan University for several years.