Pearl Harbor

RAdm Fletcher was serving as Commander Cruiser Division Six and at sea when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Admiral Kimmel, CinC PAC, thought enough of Fletcher to put his name third on a short list of potential successors, if necessary. According to RADM Thomas Kincaid, although Fletcher was scheduled to become Commander, of Cruisers, Scouting Force, Admiral Kimmel postponed these changes in order to place Fletcher in command of the Wake Island relief task force.^[3]

Wake Island: December 8–23, 1941

Prior to December 7, Wake Island had received reinforcements, including aircraft for defense. At the time of Pearl Harbor, it was under the command of Cmdr Winfield Scott Cunningham, USN and included a Marine Corps Defense Battalion, commanded by Major James Devereux. A day after Pearl Harbor, reports were received from Wake Island of a Japanese bombardment and subsequent invasion attempt. Admiral Kimmel expected Wake Island to hold out in the short run and on December 10, CinC PAC drafted an Operations Order for the relief of Wake. On December 15, Admiral Kimmel placed Fletcher in command of Task Force (TF) 14 for the relief of Wake, which consisted of the fleet carrier Saratoga, the fleet oiler Neches, the seaplane tender Tangier, three heavy cruisers (Astoria, Minneapolis, San Francisco), and eight destroyers (Selfridge, Mugford, Jarvis, Patterson, Ralph Talbot, Henley, Blue, Helm).^[4] Fletcher commanded Task Force 14 from the cruiser Astoria, while RAdm Aubrey Fitch sailed aboard Saratoga. Unfortunate events caused a delay in the departure of TF 14 as well as a delay in D-Day, the date of the actual relief effort. TF 14 sailed west towards Wake Island at less than 13 knots, as fast as the slowest ship could travel, with plans to arrive at Wake Island on December 24 (D-Day). Fletcher had been instructed to fuel prior to arriving at Wake Island. Underway refueling was still a work in progress which took time and required calm sea conditions.

However certain events took place that had a drastic impact on the relief effort. The primary event was the relief of Admiral Kimmel as CinC PAC by Admiral Chester Nimitz. Since Nimitz was in Washington, D.C., VAdm William Pye assumed the duties of CinC PAC on December 17, until Nimitz's arrival. Pye brought in personnel from his staff (he commanded the Pacific Fleet Battleships), and debates began regarding the intelligence information being provided, primarily whether the Japanese Navy had moved aircraft carriers to Wake in support of their invasion. On December 22, the Japanese began another invasion attempt of Wake. Given the new invasion and a lack of understanding regarding disposition of Japanese naval forces in the area, Pye ordered TF 14 to return to Pearl Harbor on December 22, abandoning the relief effort. On the return trip, the equipment loaded on Tangier was delivered to Midway Island.

January–April 1942

On January 1, 1942, Fletcher took command of Task Force 17, built around the carrier Yorktown. Although a surface fleet admiral, he was chosen over more senior officers to lead the carrier task force. He learned air operations on the job while escorting troops to the South Pacific. He was the junior TF commander under the tutelage of the experts: VAdm William Halsey during the Marshalls-Gilberts raids in February; VAdm Wilson Brown attacking the enemy landings on New Guinea in March; and he had aviation expert RAdm Aubrey Fitch with him during the first Battle of the Coral Sea.

On April 19, 1942, Fletcher was designated Commander Cruisers, Pacific Fleet, with additional duty as Commander Cruiser Division Four.^[1]

Coral Sea: May 4–8, 1942

In May 1942, Fletcher commanded the task forces during the Battle of the Coral Sea. This battle was 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 RAdm Aubrey Fitch with Lexington, Task Force 11, and a tanker group. Fletcher finished refueling first and headed west. On hearing the enemy was occupying Tulagi, Task Force 17 attacked the landing beaches, sinking several small ships before rejoining Lexington and an Australian cruiser force under RAdm John Gregory Crace on May 5.

The next day, intelligence reported a Japanese invasion task force headed for Port Moresby, 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 the Japanese aircraft carrier Shōhō, escorting the enemy troop ships—"Scratch one flat top." radioed LCdr Robert E. Dixon flying back to Lexington. That same day, Japanese carrier planes of RAdm Chuichi Hara found the American tanker Neosho. Believing they had found a carrier, they severely damaged her after several all-out attacks, and sank her escorting destroyer, Sims; on May 11, Henley located her, rescued the surviving crew, and sank her by naval gunfire.

On May 8, at first light, "round three opened." Fletcher launched 75 aircraft, Hara 69. 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. Shōkaku was hit, but not damaged below the waterline; it sailed 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, aborting the Port Moresby invasion.

Fletcher had achieved the objective of the mission at the cost of a carrier, tanker, and destroyer. In addition, his Grumman F4F Wildcats had beaten Japanese air groups 52 to 35, and had damaged Shōkaku; 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 at Pearl Harbor, the East Indies, Australia, and Ceylon, they had defeated the British, Dutch, and Asiatic Fleets, and had not lost a fleet ship larger than minesweepers 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 Task Force 17—with a quickly repaired Yorktown—plus Task Force 16, with Enterprise and Hornet. Vice Admiral William Halsey normally commanded this task force, but became ill and was replaced by Rear Admiral Raymond A. 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, and Sōryū.

Enterprise and Hornet lost 70 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 enemy carrier, Hiryū, and Enterprise, with Yorktown planes, then sank it. At dusk, Fletcher released Spruance to continue fighting with Task Force 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 the crippled Yorktown, under tow, on June 5 and sank her along with an escorting destroyer, Hammann. Japan had had seven large carriers—six at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack 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 Saratoga.

Landing at Guadalcanal: August 7–9, 1942

As the United States took the offensive in August 1942, VAdm Fletcher commanded Task Force 61 during the invasion of Tulagi and Guadalcanal by the 1st Marine Division. Carrier close air support was provided at Tulagi. The invasion of Guadalcanal was uncontested on the beach. Fletcher requested permission from Admiral Robert L. Ghormley, the overall commander, to withdraw 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.^[5] Fletcher thought that the few U.S. carriers should not be risked against multi-engine, land-based, torpedo bombers, when they were needed for combat against carriers. Fletcher chose to withdraw on the evening of August 8, to prepare for the inevitable Japanese counterattack.

The battle of Savo Island occurred in early morning of August 9, 1942. Allied warships 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. 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 away to seek revenge.

Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner's offloading of supplies did not go as well as expected because of Japanese air raids. He had to withdraw the transports on the evening of August 9, after Fletcher left and most of his cruisers were sunk,^[6] 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 155 mm (6.1 in) heavy artillery, much of its ammunition and also most of its medical supplies and rations had yet to be unloaded. The Navy's withdrawal left the Marines ashore initially completely unprotected against Japanese land-based air raids from Rabaul and from nightly shelling by Imperial Japanese Navy cruisers and battleships that came down the "Slot" from their large Naval and air base at Rabaul.

East Solomons: August 24–25, 1942

Fletcher fought a superior Japanese fleet intent on counter-invasion in the aircraft carrier battle of the Eastern Solomons. He started the engagement and the force under his command sank a sixth carrier, the Ryūjō. The ensuing battle was essentially a giant aerial dogfight interspersed with shipborne anti-aircraft fire. The United States lost 20 aircraft; the Japanese lost 70. Enterprise was hit by three bombs; the Japanese seaplane tender Chitose was nearly sunk, but survived. The enemy withdrew without landing troops on Guadalcanal and 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 the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Ernest King, 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 carrier, the Saratoga, was torpedoed and damaged by a Japanese submarine on August 31, 1942. Fletcher himself suffered a gash to his head in the attack, for which he received the Purple Heart, and was given his first leave after eight months of continuous combat.

Northern

From November 1942 – 1945, Fletcher commanded naval forces in the North Pacific from the Alaskan island of Adak.^[7] In November 1942, he became commandant of Thirteenth Naval District and commander of Northwestern Sea Frontier. He was relieved as commandant in October 1943, but continued to serve as commander Northwestern Sea Frontier until April 15, 1944, when the Northwestern Sea Frontier was abolished and the Alaskan Sea Frontier established. He then became Commander of the latter, with additional duty as Commander North Pacific Force and North Pacific Ocean Area. It was revealed in July 1945, that Task Force 90, under his overall command, had made the first penetration through the Kurile Islands in the Sea of Okhotsk on March 3 and 4, 1945, and the same task force on February 4, 1945, bombarded Paramushir in the first sea bombardment of the Kurile.^[1]

Medal of Honor citation

For distinguished conduct in battle, engagements of Vera Cruz, 21 and 22 April 1914. Under fire, Lt. Fletcher was eminent and conspicuous in performance of his duties. He was in charge of the Esperanze and succeeded in getting on board over 350 refugees, many of them after the conflict had commenced. Although the ship was under fire, being struck more than 30 times, he succeeded in getting all the refugees placed in safety. Lt. Fletcher was later placed in charge of the train conveying refugees under a flag of truce. This was hazardous duty, as it was believed that the track was mined, and a small error in dealing with the Mexican guard of soldiers might readily have caused a conflict, such a conflict at one time being narrowly averted. It was greatly due to his efforts in establishing friendly relations with the Mexican soldiers that so many refugees succeeded in reaching Vera Cruz from the interior.

Navy Cross citation

For distinguished service [in WWI] as Commanding Officer of the USS Benham engaged in the important, exacting and hazardous duty of patrolling the waters infested with enemy submarines and mines, in escorting and protecting vitally important convoys of troops and supplies through these waters, and in offensive and defensive action, vigorously and unremittingly prosecuted against all forms of enemy naval activity.^[1]