Raymond Ames Spruance was a United States Navy admiral during World War II. He commanded U.S. naval forces during one of the most significant naval battles that took place in the Pacific Theatre: the Battle of the Philippine Sea. He also commanded Task Force 16 at the Battle of Midway, comprising the carriers Enterprise and Hornet. At Midway, dive bombers from the Enterprise crippled two carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Kaga and the flagship Akagi. Most historians consider Midway the turning point of the Pacific War.
Samuel Eliot Morison was an American historian noted for his works of maritime history and American history that were both authoritative and popular. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912, and taught history at the university for 40 years. He won Pulitzer Prizes for Admiral of the Ocean Sea (1942), a biography of Christopher Columbus, and John Paul Jones: A Sailor's Biography (1959). In 1942, he was commissioned to write a history of United States naval operations in World War II, which was published in 15 volumes between 1947 and 1962. Morison wrote the popular Oxford History of the American People (1965), and co-authored the classic textbook The Growth of the American Republic (1930) with Henry Steele Commager.
Ernest Joseph King was an American naval officer who served as Commander in Chief, United States Fleet (COMINCH) and Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) during World War II. As COMINCH-CNO, he directed the United States Navy's operations, planning, and administration and was a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was the United States Navy's second most senior officer in World War II after Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy, who served as Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief.
John Francis Lehman Jr. is an American private equity investor and writer who served as Secretary of the Navy (1981–1987) in the Ronald Reagan administration where he promoted the creation of a 600-ship Navy. From 2003 to 2004 he was a member of the 9/11 Commission.
Frank Jack Fletcher was an admiral in the United States Navy during World War II. Fletcher commanded five different task forces through WWII; he was the operational task force commander at the pivotal battles of the Coral Sea and Midway, which collectively resulted in the sinking of six Japanese fleet carriers.
Vice Admiral Robert Lee Ghormley was an admiral in the United States Navy who served as Commander, South Pacific Area during World War II.
Thomas Cassin Kinkaid was an admiral in the United States Navy, known for his service during World War II. He built a reputation as a "fighting admiral" in the aircraft carrier battles of 1942 and commanded the Allied forces in the Aleutian Islands Campaign. He was Commander Allied Naval Forces and the Seventh Fleet under General of the Army Douglas MacArthur in the Southwest Pacific Area, where he conducted numerous amphibious operations, and commanded an Allied fleet during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle of World War II and the last naval battle between battleships in history.
Eugene Bennett Fluckey, nicknamed "Lucky Fluckey", was a United States Navy rear admiral who received the Medal of Honor and four Navy Crosses during his service as a submarine commander in World War II.
The Scouting Fleet was created in 1922 as part of a major, post-World War I reorganization of the United States Navy. The Atlantic and Pacific fleets, which comprised a significant portion of the ships in the United States Navy, were combined into a new entity, the United States Fleet. Defined as "the principal naval force of the United States," the new fleet was composed of four elements: (a) the Battle Fleet, (b) the Scouting Fleet, (c) the Control Force, and (d) the Fleet Base Force. Under the general heading of "Forces Not Assigned to the United States Fleet" came six categories: (a) Asiatic Fleet; (b) Naval Forces, Europe; (c) Special Service Squadrons; (d) Submarine Divisions, Atlantic; (e) Submarine Divisions, Pacific; and (f) Naval District Forces. While there was a reorganization in 1930, and the renaming of the Battle Fleet and Scouting Fleet as the Battle Force and Scouting Force, this would be the core structure of the United States Navy until the beginning of World War II.
Theodore Edson Chandler was a Rear admiral of the United States Navy during World War II, who commanded battleship and cruiser divisions in both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets. He was killed in action when a Japanese kamikaze aircraft struck his flagship Louisville on January 6, 1945 in Lingayen Gulf, Philippine Islands. He died the next day January 7, 1945 from severely scorched lungs. He was one of five flag officers of the U.S. Navy to die in World War II after Isaac C. Kidd, Norman Scott, Daniel J. Callaghan, and Henry M. Mullinnix.
Arthur Schuyler Carpender was an American admiral who commanded the Allied Naval Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area during World War II.
The nonfiction book The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour is the first full narrative account of the Battle off Samar, which the book's author, James D. Hornfischer, calls the greatest upset in the history of naval warfare. Published by Bantam Books in February 2004, the book won the Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature in 2004 from the Naval Order of the United States.
John Walter Wilcox Jr. was a rear admiral of the United States Navy. He saw service in World War I and in the opening weeks of United States involvement in World War II before being lost overboard from his flagship in the North Atlantic Ocean in 1942.
James D. Hornfischer was an American literary agent and naval historian.
Task Force 17 (TF17) was an aircraft carrier task force of the United States Navy during the Pacific Campaign of World War II. TF17 participated in several major carrier battles in the first year of the war.
Norman Friedman, Ph.D., is an American internationally known author and analyst, strategist, and historian. He has written over 30 books and numerous articles on naval and other military matters, has worked for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, and has appeared on television programs including PBS, the Discovery Channel, C-SPAN, and National Geographic.
The Naval Order of the United States was established in 1890 as a hereditary organization in the United States for members of the American sea services. Its primary mission is to encourage research and writing on naval and maritime subjects and preserve documents, portraits, and other records of prominent figures, deeds and memories of American naval and maritime history.
Vice Admiral Olaf Mandt Hustvedt was a senior officer of the United States Navy. He saw service in World War I and World War II, operating in both the Battle of the Atlantic and the Pacific War. During his 36-year career, he distinguished himself as an expert in naval ordnance and as a battleship commander.
Vice Admiral Frank Jacob Lowry was an officer in the United States Navy who served in World War I and World War II. A 1911 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, he served on submarines during World War I. During World War II, he commanded the cruiser USS Minneapolis at the Battle of the Coral Sea, for which he was awarded the Navy Cross, and the Battle of Midway. He commanded the VIII Amphibious Force in the landings at Anzio and Southern France. He retired from the Navy in March 1950, and received a tombstone promotion to vice admiral due to his combat decorations.
Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy is a book by Ian W. Toll, which was published by Norton in 2006. The book is a history of the original six frigates of the U.S. Navy.
