In 1922, while still a Captain, he was appointed as the Governor of the United States Virgin Islands, a role that he only acted in for a year. Hough was the first non-acting military governor to govern as a Captain, rather than a Rear Admiral, and the first not to be born in the United States.
In 1923, he was appointed as Director of Naval Intelligence and the following year on June 14, 1924, he was promoted to Rear Admiral. He commanded the Yangtze Patrol from 1925 until December 5, 1927, when command was assumed by Rear Admiral Yates Stirling Jr. He retired from the Navy in 1935 and died in 1943.[1]