Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher
Frank Jack Fletcher commanded American carriers at Coral Sea, Midway and Guadalcanal and has been argued about ever since. Born in Iowa in 1885 to a family with naval connections, he graduated from Annapolis in 1906, won the Medal of Honor at Veracruz in 1914 for evacuating refugees under fire, and commanded a destroyer in the First World War. He was a surface officer rather than an aviator, which mattered a great deal in a war decided by carriers and which his critics never let go of. In May 1942 at the Coral Sea he fought the first battle in history in which the opposing fleets never sighted one another. He lost the Lexington and Japan lost a light carrier and had two fleet carriers damaged and unavailable — which is why Midway was fought at four carriers to three rather than six. At Midway in June he commanded overall from the Yorktown until she was hit, then transferred command to Spruance, whose decisions won the battle. At the Eastern Solomons in August he sank another Japanese carrier. The controversy is Guadalcanal. He withdrew the carriers after two days, before the marines' supplies had been fully landed, citing fuel and the risk to irreplaceable ships. The transports left the next day, the marines were short of food and equipment for weeks, and the naval commander and the marine general blamed him publicly for years. He was moved to the North Pacific for the rest of the war, and declined to write memoirs or defend himself.
- Lived: 1885 CE – 1973 CE
- Nationality: American
- Roles: admiral
