Fletcher, Frank Jack (1885-1973)

Naval Historical Center # NH 91213

Frank Jack Fletcher was born in Iowa and graduated from the Naval Academy in 1906. He won a Medal of Honor at Vera Cruz in 1914 for his rescue of refugees on the S.S. Esperanza. He commanded a destroyer in World War I, saw brief action in the Philippine Uprising of 1924, and served in variety of posts thereafter. He was a graduate of both the Naval War College (1930) and the Army War College (1931). At the outbreak of war, he was in command of Cruiser Division 6, and was on his flagship Astoria with Task Force 12, the Lexington task force, which was about to deliver fighter aircraft to Midway. He was given command of the Lexington force in January 1942.

Fletcher played a prominent role in the early days of the Pacific War, but historians have not been entirely kind to him. He commanded U.S. forces in more carrier battles than any other admiral, and lost none of them: Midway was a decisive American victory, and Coral Sea and Eastern Solomons probably count as marginal American victories. In spite of this record, King kicked Fletcher upstairs by making him commander of the 13 Naval District in Seattle. King felt that Fletcher had been insufficiently aggressive in his battles, and the record tends to bear this out.

Fletcher commanded the Saratoga task force in the Wake relief expedition, but chose to proceed at the speed of his oiler, which had a practical speed of just 12 knots. This left Wake exposed to Japanese aerial attack for four crucial days, during which Fletcher could have closed to strike range, but did not.

Fletcher was more aggressive in subsequent operations, including the early strikes against the Marshalls. At the Battle of the Coral Sea, Fletcher charged north to launch strikes at the Japanese occupation force at Tulagi and west to strike at the Shoho. Ironically, the strike at Tulagi gave away the element of surprise, and the strike at Shoho prevented a strike at the Shokaku and Zuikaku. The loss of Lexington and heavy damage to Yorktown led Fletcher to withdraw, which drew criticism from King but ensured that Yorktown would be available for the battle of Midway.

At Midway, Fletcher trailed behind Spruance in the dash towards the Japanese carriers, ostensibly because he had to recover several scout planes searching the northern flank; but this did not prevent Yorktown from making a crucial contribution to the victory. The subsequent loss of Yorktown was the second time Fletcher had a carrier sunk from under him, which seems to have reinforced his cautious streak.

One historian (Prange) has described Fletcher at Midway as "a man of talent who had the brains and character to give a free hand to a man of genius." Samuel Eliot Morison expressed similar sentiments. However, one of Fletcher's staff described him to Prange as "a big, nice, wonderful guy who didn't know his butt from third base."

Particularly damning is Fletcher's rapid abandonment of the Guadalcanal invasion force, which could have led to disaster. Fletcher was far out of range of escorted strikes from any Japanese base, and the loss of air cover compounded by the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Savo Island forced Turner, the amphibious force commander, to withdraw his own forces before they had time to unload all their supplies.

In the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, Fletcher was again the nominal victor, but the victory might have been decisive rather than marginal if Fletcher had not been short a carrier due to a decision to send the Wasp south to refuel at the crucial moment.

King finally lost patience with Fletcher, and found an excuse to retire him from combat command when Fletcher was slightly wounded in Saratoga's second torpedoing. After serving as commander of 13 Naval District, Fletcher relieved Thomas Kinkaid as the commander of the Northern Pacific Area, which by late 1943 was a secondary theater. Fletcher remained here for the rest of the war.

Service record

References

Dupuy et.al. (1992)

Morison (1949)

Spector (1985)

The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia (c) 2007-2008 by Kent G. Budge. Index

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