Abbot was born on January 19, 1945, in Pensacola, Florida. He graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover, in 1962 and first in his class from the United States Naval Academy in 1966 and was chosen as a Rhodes Scholar to attend Oxford University. Selected as a naval aviator, he graduated from the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School and later naval nuclear power training. During the Gulf War, he commanded the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and commanded the Theodore Roosevelt battle group while assigned as commander, Carrier Group Eight. He commanded the United States Sixth Fleet from 1996 to 1998, and completed his naval career as deputy commander-in-chief, United States European Command.
