After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1933 and being designated a naval aviator, Bernard Strean reported to Patrol Squadron Eleven in San Diego in 1938. In 1940 he was flight instructor at NAS Jacksonville, and then a member of Flight Standardization Board. In 1943 he had duty as commander of Fighting Squadron One in the USS Yorktown (CV-5) and received the Navy Cross for personally scoring a direct bomb hit on a Japanese aircraft carrier in the Battle of the Philippine Sea and for action in the Marianas. Later highlights in his career were duty as: CO of the Naval Pre-Flight School at Pensacola; CO of the USS Randolph (CV-15); Commander Carrier Division Two in the Enterprise (CVAN-65) in operation Sea Orbit, the first nuclear task force's good will tour of world ports. Before retirement in 1971, he was Chief of Naval Air Training.