Frederick C. Sherman

Admiral Frederick C. Sherman

Frederick Carl "Ted" Sherman (born May 27, 1888 in Port Huron , Michigan , † July 27, 1957 in San Diego , California ) was a Vice Admiral in the United States Navy during World War II . He was one of the most outstanding admirals in the Fast Carrier Task Force .

biography

Early years

Frederick Carl Sherman was born on May 27, 1888 to Frederick Ward Sherman and Charlotte Esther Sherman (nee Wolfe) in Port Huron, Michigan. In 1910 he graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis , Maryland .

First World War and the interwar period

During the First World War he was in command of the submarines H-2 and O-2 . In the 1930s Sherman became a naval aviator and served, among other things, on the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3) in 1937 and on Naval Air Station San Diego in 1938 . From 1940 he commanded the USS Lexington (CV-2) .

Second World War

From Pearl Harbor to Operation Cartwheel

After the outbreak of the Pacific War with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor , he and his bandage covered the porter Saratoga when he was supposed to support the embattled island of Wake . Then Sherman drove the Lexington in the triangle Oahu - Johnston - Palmyra patrol . The air strike against the Japanese-occupied Rabaul planned for mid-February 1942 was also to be carried out by Lexington. Sherman's Task Force 17 continued to patrol the Coral Sea . This eventually led to the Battle of the Coral Sea , which lasted from May 4th to May 8th , with the aircraft carrier Lexington sunk. Captain Sherman was the last to leave the ship.

After his promotion to Rear Admiral , he held the post of assistant to the commanding officer of the US Navy, Admiral Ernest J. King, until the end of the year . In early 1943 he replaced Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid as commander of the combat group for the carrier Enterprise (CV-6). Sherman led attempts in the two-carrier tactic, an innovation in the Navy, since the previous use of two aircraft carriers in a combat group has never been discussed . However, his activities ended because the Enterprise had to go to the shipyard for a general overhaul at the end of April . Their replacement was the British aircraft carrier HMS Victorious .

"Ted" Sherman remained in the South Pacific and served under Admiral Aubrey Fitch , the supreme commander of the Allied air forces in the South Pacific ( Com mander of Air forces So uth Pac ific COMAIRSOPAC ). Admiral William F. Halsey knew that Sherman would prefer command on an aircraft carrier to his current post, so he commanded him to Pearl Harbor , where he was to take over a newly formed task force. On June 7, 1943, he was commander of Carrier Division 2 ( Com mander of car rier Div ision COMCARDIV 2 ) to the new USS Essex (CV-9) and USS Enterprise. With his unit he again practiced various formations as part of the two-carrier tactic until the Enterprise had to return to the United States for repairs . But his stay there only lasted until July 16 , because Rear Admiral "Ted" Sherman returned to the South Pacific as COMCARDIV 1 ( USS Saratoga (CV-3) ).

He spent the following weeks, first training together with the British HMS Victorious and later with various battleships and cruisers. In October of that year, the new aircraft carrier USS Princeton (CVL-23) joined Sherman's unit, giving it full combat power.

Subordinated to Halsey's 3rd Fleet, he supported the landings on the northern Solomon Islands island of Bougainville from November 1, 1943. A resulting counterattack by the Japanese fleet finally culminated in the sea ​​battle at the Empress Augusta Bay , with Admiral A. Stanton Merrill had to accept three seriously damaged ships. Determined to destroy the US Marines , Admiral Mineichi Koga dispatched a huge task force consisting of eight cruisers and four destroyers. Despite warnings from US intelligence, Halsey sent Sherman's aircraft carriers to destroy the attackers coming from Rabaul . Intelligence was right in its warnings, as Frederick Sherman had to get his porters within range of the enemy land-based warplanes . Halsey and Sherman were fully aware of the threat of losing the Saratoga and Princeton , but the November 5th air strike was a complete success. The Japanese fleet, which was still anchored in the port of Rabaul, was badly damaged by the 97 attacking American fighter planes, so that it had to retreat to Truk . Another attack on Rabaul was unsuccessful, but Sherman was still able to prove the feasibility of an air strike against an enemy naval base, even if it was prepared for the attack.

Operation Galvanic to Leyte

Sherman remained COMCARDIV 1, taking command of the Task Group 58.3 with its new flagship of Bunker Hill took over. He participated in the landings on the Gilbert and Marshall Islands until March 1944, before he was transferred to the Office of Commander Fleet Air West Coast .

On August 1, 1944, Sherman returned to the war zone as Commander of Carrier Division 1 , replacing Rear Admiral William K. Harrill . Two weeks later he also followed RAdm. Albert E. Montgomery as Commander of Task Group 38.3. Ted Sherman's first station took him together with Ralph E. Davison 's task force to the Philippines , where he attacked strategic targets in the Visayas on August 31 . In October, like his colleagues "Slew" McCain and "Bull" Halsey , he proved himself during the seven-day aerial battles around the island of Formosa (today's Taiwan ). In the process, the Japanese armed forces lost over 600 aircraft, which corresponds to almost 70% of the combat aircraft that could significantly disrupt the upcoming Leyte operations.

At the end of October 1944 there was finally the sea ​​and air battle in the Gulf of Leyte , in which Sherman placed one of three task groups in Admiral Halsey's fleet. During the first fighting east of the Philippines, Sherman's light aircraft carrier Princeton was so badly damaged by a land-based Japanese bomber that it later had to be abandoned. Then the rest of the allied naval force pursued the ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy under Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa and placed them at Cape Engano . Sherman's battered bandage was then ordered to Ulithi . Reports of massive Japanese naval movements targeting Leyte, however, prompted Allied High Command on November 1 to recall Frederick Sherman and his unit to aid Rear Admiral Gerald F. Bogan .

Iwo Jima to Tokyo

In continuation of Operation King II. Montgomery (TG 38.1), Bogans (TG 38.2), Shermans (TG 38.3) and Davisons (TG 38.4) carrier aircraft attacked hostile airfields in the Philippines. For a short time Sherman even became the commander of the entire Task Force 38, as the flagship of the actual commander, John S. McCain, had to go to Ulithi for important repairs.

Sherman spent the remaining weeks until the end of the year at the Ulithi naval base in Karolinen with various maneuvers. In early 1945 he supported the landing on Luzon in the Gulf of Lingayen and bombed strategic targets in the western Philippines and in occupied French Indochina ( Cam Ranh ). At that time, Sherman reported to two task groups.

Admiral Frederick C. Sherman during the Japanese surrender (shown at the left edge of the picture, as the first person in the back front row).

From February 1945, Sherman was in command of TG 58.3 for the aircraft carriers Essex , Bunker Hill and Cowpens . Admiral Marc A. Mitscher was in command of Task Force 58. For the next few weeks he supported the American landing on Iwojima and launched on February 16 as part of Operation Jamboree , the first Allied air raid on Tokyo since the Doolittle Raid of April 1942. Im March, its carrier aircraft operated over the Japanese main island of Kyushu and supported Operation Iceberg on Okinawa .

On June 14, 1945 Frederick Sherman received the deserved promotion to Vice Admiral and was commander of the 1st Fast Carrier Force , which he should take over only after a 30-day leave from the front. Due to the early end of the war, he did not take part in combat operations in this war, as his vacation only ended after the fighting ended. Nonetheless, on September 2, he witnessed the unconditional Japanese surrender on board the USS Missouri (BB-63) .

post war period

VAdm Sherman became the commanding officer of the US 5th Fleet after the Pacific War . He held this office until his retirement in 1947. Frederick Carl Sherman died on July 27, 1957 in San Diego , California .

During his military career he received numerous awards . There are only three Navy Crosses in his collection. In addition, on January 11, 1961, Frederick C. Sherman Field , on the island of San Clemente off California , was named after him.

Web links

• Biography (English)
• Short biography (English)