Frank Jack Fletcher was an admiral in the United States Navy during World War II. Fletcher commanded five different task forces through the war; he was the operational task force commander at the pivotal battles of the Coral Sea and Midway, which collectively resulted in the sinking of five Japanese aircraft carriers.
Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, USN Photographed aboard USS Saratoga, September 17, 1942. Official U.S. Navy photograph.
Jack Fletcher (at left) and his French Bulldog "Bueil" talking with the commanding officer of the submarine K-6, Azores, December 1917
Grave at Arlington National Cemetery (March 2020)
The Battle of the Coral Sea, from 4 to 8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces of the United States and Australia. Taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, the battle was the first naval action in which the opposing fleets neither sighted nor fired upon one another, attacking over the horizon from aircraft carriers instead.
The American aircraft carrier USS Lexington explodes on 8 May 1942, several hours after being damaged by a Japanese carrier air attack.
Japanese advances in the Southwest Pacific from December 1941 to April 1942
Frank Jack Fletcher, commander of U.S. Task Force 17
Zuikaku anchored in Kobe in September of 1941 after her commissioning.
