Frank Jack Fletcher Frank Jack Fletcher ( April 29 , 1885 – April 25 , 1973 ) was an admiral in the United States Navy during World War II . Fletcher was the operational commander at the pivotal Battles of Coral Sea and of Midway . He was the nephew of Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher . Early life and early Navy career . Fletcher was born in Marshalltown , Iowa on April 29 , 1885 . Appointed to the U . S . Naval Academy from his native state in 1902 , he graduated from Annapolis on February 12 , 1906 and commissioned an Ensign on February 13 , 1908 following two years at sea . The early years of his career were spent on the battleship s , , and . He also spent time on and . In November 1909 he was assigned to , a unit of the Asiatic Torpedo Flotilla . He assumed command of in April 1910 and March 1912 returned to " Chauncey " as Commanding Officer . Transferred to in December 1912 he was aboard that battleship during the United States occupation of Veracruz , Mexico , in April 1914 . For distinguished conduct in battle at Veracruz he received the Medal of Honor ( see citation below ) . World War I and post - War period . Fletcher became Aide and Flag Lieutenant on the staff of the Commander in Chief , U . S . Atlantic Fleet in July 1914 . After a year at this post , he returned to the Naval Academy for duty in the Executive Department . Upon the outbreak of World War I he served as Gunnery Officer of until September 1917 , after which he assumed command of . He was assigned to in February 1918 before taking command of in May 1918 . For distinguished service as Commanding Officer USS " Benham " , engaged in the important , exacting , and hazardous duty of patrolling European waters and protecting vitally important convoys , he was awarded the Navy Cross . From October 1918 to February 1919 he assisted in fitting out at San Francisco . He then became Commanding Officer of upon her commissioning . Returning to Washington , he was head of the Detail Section , Enlisted Personnel Division in the Bureau of Navigation from April 1919 until September 1922 . Interwar service . He returned to the Asiatic Station , having consecutive command of the , , , and Submarine Base , Cavite . He served at the Washington Navy Yard s from March 1925 to 1927 ; became Executive Officer of ; and completed the Senior Course at the Naval War College , Newport in 1929 - 30 followed immediately by the Army War College in Washington , D . C . , 1930 – 31 , in preparation for strategic leadership responsibilities . Fletcher became Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief , U . S . Asiatic Fleet in August 1931 . In the summer of 1933 he was transferred to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations . Following this assignment he had duty from November 1933 to May 1936 as Aide to the Secretary of the Navy , the Honorable Claude A . Swanson . He assumed command of , flagship of Battleship Division THREE in June 1936 . In December 1937 he became a member of the Naval Examining Board , and became Assistant Chief of Bureau of Navigation in June 1938 . Returning to the Pacific between September 1939 and December 1941 he became Commander Cruiser Division THREE ; Commander Cruiser Division SIX ; Commander Cruiser Scouting Force ; and Commander Cruiser Division FOUR . World War II . Wake Island — December 8 – 23 , 1941 . Responding to reports from US Marines on Wake Island of Japanese bombardment and a subsequent invasion attempt in the first week after Pearl Harbor , Fletcher was sent west with the carrier " Saratoga " ( Task Force 11 ) to provide relief . He was one day away when plans were changed and ordered to wait for " Lexington " ( Task Force 12 , Vice Admiral Brown ) . The next day the Japanese successfully invaded Wake Island . The task force was recalled by Admiral Pye , who was " keeping the seat warm " until Admiral Nimitz could arrive at Pearl and take over as Commander - in - Chief , Pacific Fleet . January - April 1942 . On January 1 , 1942 , Rear Admiral Fletcher took command of Task Force 17 built around the carrier . He , a surface fleet admiral , was chosen over more senior officers to lead a carrier task force . He learned air operations on the job while escorting troops to the South Pacific . He was junior TF commander under tutelage of the experts : Vice Admiral William Halsey during the Marshalls - Gilberts raids in February ; Vice Admiral Wilson Brown attacking the enemy landings on New Guinea in March ; and had aviation expert Rear Admiral Aubrey Fitch with him during the first battle at Coral Sea . Coral Sea — May 4 – 8 , 1942 . In May 1942 , he commanded the task forces during the Battle of the Coral Sea . This battle is famous as the first carrier - on - carrier battle fought between fleets that never came within sight of each other . Fletcher with " Yorktown , " Task Force 17 , had been patrolling the Coral Sea and rendezvoused with Rear Admiral Aubrey Fitch with , Task Force 11 , and a tanker group . Fletcher finished refueling first and headed West . On hearing the enemy was occupying Tulagi , TF 17 attacked the landing beaches , sinking several small ships before rejoining " Lexington " and an Australian cruiser force under Rear Admiral John Gregory Crace on May 5 . The next day , intelligence reported a Japanese invasion task force headed for Port Moresby , Papua New Guinea , and a Carrier Strike Force was in the area . The morning of May 7 , Fletcher sent the Australian cruisers to stop the transports while he sought the carriers . His combat pilots sank Japanese aircraft carrier " Shōhō " , escorting the enemy troop ships , — " Scratch one flat top . " radioed Lt . Commander Robert Dixon flying back to the . That same day , Japanese carrier planes of Rear Admiral Chuichi Hara found the American tanker . Believing they had found a carrier , they severely damaged her after several all - out attacks , and sank her escorting destroyer , ; on May 11 , located her , rescued the surviving crew , and sank her by naval gunfire . On May 8 , at first light , " round three opened . " Fletcher launched seventy - five aircraft , Hara sixty - nine . Fitch had greater experience in handling air operations , and Fletcher had him direct that function , as he was to do again later with Noyes at Guadalcanal . " Shokaku " was hit , but not damaged below waterline ; it slunk away . " Zuikaku " had earlier dodged under a squall . The Japanese attack put two torpedoes into " Lexington " , which was abandoned that evening . " Yorktown " was hit near her island , but survived . Hara failed to use " Zuikaku " to achieve victory and withdrew . The invasion fleet without air cover , also withdrew , thereby halting the Port Moresby invasion . Fletcher had achieved the objective of the mission at the cost of a carrier , tanker , and destroyer . In addition , his Wildcats had beaten Japanese air groups , 52 to 35 , and had damaged " Shokaku , " ; neither Japanese carrier would be able to join the fight at Midway the following month . This was the first World War II battle in which the Imperial Japanese Navy had been stopped . In battles in Pearl Harbor , East Indies , Australia and Ceylon , they had defeated the British , Dutch , and Asiatic Fleets , and had not lost a fleet ship larger than mine sweepers and submarines . Midway — June 4 – 7 , 1942 . In June 1942 , Fletcher was the Officer in Tactical Command at the Battle of Midway with two task forces , his usual TF 17 with quickly repaired " Yorktown , " plus TF 16 with and . Vice Admiral William Halsey normally commanded this task force , but became ill and was replaced by Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance . When aircraft from four Japanese carriers attacked Midway Island , the three U . S . carriers , warned by broken Japanese codes and waiting in ambush , attacked and sank three enemy carriers – " Akagi , Kaga , Soryu . " " Enterprise " and " Hornet " lost seventy aircraft . Japanese attacks on June 4 severely damaged " Yorktown " ; repairs returned her to the battle until she was hopelessly disabled by a new round of attacks two hours later . Fletcher ' s scouts found the fourth carrier and " Enterprise " with " Yorktown " planes then sank " Hiryu . " At dusk , Fletcher released Spruance to continue fighting with TF 16 the next day . During the next two days , Spruance found two damaged cruisers and sank one . The enemy transport and battle fleets got away . A Japanese submarine , " I - 168 " , found crippled " Yorktown " under tow on June 5 and sank her , along with an adjacent destroyer , . Japan had had seven large carriers ( six at Pearl Harbor and one new construction ) – four were sunk at Midway . This did not win the war , but evened the odds between Japanese and American fleet carriers . Following the battle Fletcher was promoted to Vice Admiral and continued to command a carrier group at sea after shifting his flag to . Landing at Guadalcanal — August 7 – 9 , 1942 . As the U . S . took the offensive in August 1942 , Vice Admiral Fletcher commanded the Task Force 61 ' s invasion of Tulagi and Guadalcanal by the 1st Marine Division ( United States ) . Carrier close air support was provided at Tulagi . The invasion of Guadalcanal was uncontested on the beach . Fletcher requested permission from Admiral Ghormley , the overall commander , to withdrew his carriers from dangerous waters when they were no longer needed , claiming that his aircraft losses and fuel state due to maneuvering required him to leave . Rear Admiral Richmond K . Turner ' s offloading of supplies did not go as well as expected , he did not tell Fletcher , and then had to withdraw the transports after Fletcher left , over the strenuous objections of the ground commander , Marine General Alexander Vandegrift . The Marines refer to this as the ' Navy Bugout ' , because the reserve Marine regiment and the division ' s 155mm heavy artillery , much of its ammunition and also most of its medical supplies and rations had yet to be unloaded . Fletcher and Turner felt that the few US carriers could not be risked against multi - engine , land based , torpedo bombers , when they were needed for combat against carriers . Fletcher chose to withdraw on the third morning to prepare for the inevitable Japanese counterattack . The Navy ' s withdrawal left the Marines ashore initially completely unprotected against Japanese land - based air raids from Rabaul and from nightly shelling by IJN cruisers and battleships that came down the " Slot " from their large Naval and air base at Rabaul . The Battle of Savo Island occurred on August 9 , 1942 . Allied warships under Rear Admiral Victor Crutchley , RN , screening the transports were surprised at midnight and defeated in 32 minutes by a Japanese force of seven cruisers and one destroyer , commanded by Japanese Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa . One Australian and three U . S . heavy cruisers were sunk , and one other U . S . cruiser and two destroyers were damaged in this lopsided Japanese victory . However , as Crutchley notes , the transports were not touched . Fletcher is sometimes criticized because his carriers were at the far end of their nightly withdrawal , steaming back for the morning , yet too far to away to seek revenge . East Solomons - August 24 – 25 , 1942 . Fletcher fought a superior Japanese fleet intent on counter - invasion in the carrier aircraft Battle of the Eastern Solomons . He started the engagement and sank his sixth carrier , " Ryujo " . The ensuing battle was essentially a giant aerial dog fight interspersed with ship borne antiaircraft fire . The U . S . lost 20 planes , the Japanese lost 70 . ' was hit by three bombs and " Chitose " was nearly sunk , but survived . The enemy withdrew without landing troops on Guadalcanal . They had to resort to the Tokyo Express : overnight delivery of a few hundred troops and supplies by destroyers . Fletcher was second guessed by non - combatants , and was criticized by Admiral Ernest King , in Washington , for not pursuing the Combined Fleet as it withdrew . This criticism may have affected the decision to not return Fletcher to his command after his flagship , the carrier ' , was torpedoed and damaged by a Japanese submarine on August 31 , 1942 . Fletcher himself was slightly injured in the attack on " Saratoga " , suffering a gash to his head and was given his first leave after eight months of continuous combat . Northern . In November 1942 , he became Commander , Thirteenth Naval District and Commander , Northwestern Sea Frontier to calm the public fear of invasion from the north . A year later , he was placed in charge of the whole Northern Pacific area , holding that position until after the end of World War II , when his forces occupied northern Japan . He also held that command when he ordered the front to bombard the Kurile Islands and other operations as well . Postwar and final days . Vice Admiral Fletcher was appointed to the Navy ' s General Board in 1946 and retired as Chairman of that governing board in May 1947 with the rank of full Admiral . He retired to his country estate , Araby , in Maryland . Many of Fletcher ' s papers were lost in combat . He declined to reconstruct them from Pentagon archives and to be interviewed by Samuel Eliot Morison , who was writing the History of United States Naval Operations in World War II . In return , he received no consideration by Morison , an attitude picked up by later authors . Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher died on April 25 , 1973 , four days before his 88th birthday at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda , Maryland . He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery . His widow , Martha Richards Fletcher ( b . 29 March 1895 , at Kansas City , Missouri ) , whom Fletcher married in February , 1917 ; died seventeen months later on 14 September 1974 . Martha Fletcher was buried next to her husband at Arlington National Cemetery . Medal of Honor citation . Citation : Legacy . , the second ship to bear the Fletcher name , was named for Admiral Fletcher . The first , commissioned June 30 , 1942 , was named for Admiral Fletcher ' s uncle , Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher . The 1976 movie " Midway " depicted Fletcher ( played by Robert Webber ) as somewhat confused and hesitant during the battle . Charlton Heston , who played a fictional naval officer working with Fletcher , wrote in his personal journals that this portrayal was based on the advice of some Navy veterans critical of Fletcher , and he said he and Webber tried to make it as subtle as possible .